A Chinese senior official said Wednesday that over 100 Chinese entrepreneurs would go to Africa in the delegation of China's Premier Wen Jiabao to attend the China-Africa Cooperation Forum meeting in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, on Dec. 15-16.  

The entrepreneurs come from over 40 Chinese state-owned enterprises and more than 60 private ones, said Lu Guozeng, China's assistant foreign minister, at a news briefing in Beijing.

He said China encourages domestic enterprises to invest in Africa and China hopes to achieve common development with African countries by furthering investment cooperation.

The latest official statistics showed that 602 Chinese enterprises have set up business in 49 African countries and 117 of them were founded from 2001 to 2003.

(Xinhua News Agency December 4, 2003)