Visiting Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming said on Monday that China-Africa trade volume hit an all time high in 2008, reaching a historic new level of US$106.8 billion.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Chen said the past eight years have witnessed a super fast growth of 30 percent since China-Africa trade volume reached more than US$10 billion in 2000.

He added that in recent years, especially since 2006 when China hosted the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the Chinese-African friendly relations have been further consolidated and strengthened which has given an impetus to the fast growth of China-Africa economic relations and trade.

He said the past few years have also seen a steady development of China's investment in the African continent. "By the end of 2008, China has invested a total of over 5 billion dollars in African countries," he added.

Referring to the ongoing world financial crisis, Chen said, it has no doubt slowed down the pace of world's economic development and a special attention must be paid to its side effects towards the developing countries and underdeveloped countries.

He said many African countries have, relatively speaking, weak economic foundation and rely heavily on foreign investments and aid. These African countries are now facing financial difficulties following the big cut in the price of crude oil in the world market.

"We hope China and African countries can work together to further strengthen multilateral cooperation to face the tough challenges brought about by the ongoing world financial crisis," he said.

Chen and his delegation members were scheduled to leave Angola for home on Monday to end his three-nation African work visit which also brought him to Kenya and Zambia.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2009)