Thirty-three businessmen from 18 African countries have signed preliminary trade and investment agreements with dozens of Chinese enterprises at a trade fair in Beijing.

Sponsored by China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the businessmen are participating the “Sino-African Industrial and Trade Training Course” aiming to teach them how to do business with Chinese companies.

Vice Chairman of the council, Liu Wenjia, says China has made several key policies recent years to improve Sino-African trade ties, including debt reduction, market opening, and favorable custom treatment for export commodities from African nations.

China has signed bilateral trade agreements with 41 African countries.

It's estimated that the trade volume between China and Africa will pass 20 billion US dollars this year.

(CRI.com December 8, 2004)