Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Yang Youming said on Monday that the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) has brought a new dimension to the relations between the two regions.

Yang told reporters in Lusaka, the Zambian capital ahead of the FOCAC meeting to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa next month that the forum has proven to be an important platform for collective dialogue between the two regions and an effective mechanism for enhanced practical cooperation.

"As such, FOCAC is very much welcomed by all parties and has indeed become a banner for promoting China-Africa unity and cooperation and leading international cooperation with Africa," he said.

According to him, since the establishment of FOCAC 15 years ago, China and Africa have had fruitful cooperation in different fields, adding that the two region's practical cooperation has progressed in "leaps and bounds" delivering tangible benefits to peoples of the two regions.

According to figures, trade between China and Africa exceeded 220 billion US dollars in 2014 while investment surpassed 30 billion dollars, an increase of 22 and 60 times over the figures in the year 2,000 when FOCAC was established.

On the other hand, the share of China-Africa trade in Africa's total foreign trade has increased from 3.82 percent to 20.5 percent.

The Chinese envoy added that the Johannesburg Summit, the first FOCAC meeting in Africa, will help to strengthen China-African mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation, enhance the confidence of Africa itself and the international community in the development of Africa and encourage the international community to continue to pay their attention to and make more investment on the continent.

"China believes that this summit, through its new plans, blueprint and momentum for China-Africa cooperation, will send to the rest of the world a strong message of China and Africa working together for win-win cooperation and common development and open up a new prospect of development to people in China, Africa and beyond," he added.

The Johannesburg summit will be held under the theme "China Africa move Forward Hand in Hand for Win-win Cooperation and Common Development".

The Chinese envoys further emphasized China's commitment to helping Africa break two of its development bottlenecks of undeveloped infrastructure and lack of human resources, adding that the efforts shave so far made a big difference.

According to figures, by June 2015, over 3,800 kilometers of railways and 4,334 kilometers of roads have been either built or under construction in Africa with Chinese financing while more than 200 schools of various kinds have been established with Chinese assistance or financing.

The Chinese government also provides more than 7,000 government scholarships each year for African countries and holds over 100 multilateral and bilateral technical and management training programs and senior officials' workshops each year.