BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and African senior leaders gathered in Beijing on Sunday to discuss the arrangements and preparations for the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) to be held from Nov. 3 to 5. 

    Representatives from China and 48 African countries attended the two-day meeting.

    Zhai Jun, Chinese secretary-general of the preparatory committee of the Beijing Summit, said senior officials will discuss preparations, which are of great importance to the success of the summit.

    In his opening speech, Zhai, who is also assistant Foreign Minister, hailed the friendship and cooperation between China and Africa over the past 50 years.

    He said the Beijing Summit is a historical event in terms of China-Africa ties and will exert far-reaching influence on the cooperation between the two sides.

    Hailekiros Gessesse, special envoy of the FOCAC's co-chair country Ethiopia and also the Ethiopian Ambassador to China, said multilateral cooperation has strengthened since the FOCAC was founded in 2000 and is developing soundly.

    Remarkable progress has been made in the fields of science and technology, education, culture, public health and personnel training, said Hailekiros.

    According to the Foreign Ministry, China has had extensive discussions with African countries on preparations for the summit and many agreements had been reached.

    The summit, also the 3rd Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC, focuses on the subjects of "friendship, peace, cooperation and development".

    FOCAC is a mechanism for collective dialogue and cooperation jointly established by China and Africa to cope with new challenges and facilitate common development.

    Since the launch of the FOCAC in 2000, two ministerial conferences have been held in Beijing and Addis Ababa. Enditem