20100105
africagoodnews

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Tuesday launched a major tour of Africa, officials said, as energy-hungry Beijing seeks to reinforce ties with the resource-rich continent.

Yang, who headed on Tuesday to the Maldives, was also due to make stops in Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Algeria and Morocco, foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.

The minister - who traditionally begins the year with a trip to Africa - was to visit Saudi Arabia before heading home to China on January 13, she said.

China has built up trade and economic ties with Africa in recent years, prompting critics to accuse it of taking a "neo-colonialist" attitude.

In November, at a meeting of China-Africa leaders in Egypt, Beijing pledged 10 billion dollars in concessional loans to African countries.

Commerce Minister Chen Deming said China was "committed to ... going all-out to assist African countries in improving their agricultural production and infrastructure".