China will adopt four new policies to strengthen economic and trade ties with African countries, a senior Chinese official said Monday in Beiijing.

Sun Guangxiang, Vice Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, announced the policies at the first press conference for the "China-Africa Cooperation Forum -- Ministerial Conference Beijing 2000", due to open on Tuesday morning.

Sun said that China will continue to encourage its enterprises with good credibility to invest in Africa.

Chinese companies will invest in projects in accordance with the conditions in Africa, so as to increase the revenue of local governments and employment opportunities in those countries, he said.

The Chinese government has decided to set up a special fund to support Chinese enterprises investing in Africa, Sun said.

He noted that China will provide economic and technical assistance to African countries, including concessional-interest and interest-free loans.