BEIJING -- Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Namibia, the Republic of the Congo, Chad and Nigeria from Jan 5 to 11, continuing the tradition of a Chinese foreign minister visiting Africa on the first overseas trip at the start of the year for 35 consecutive years, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning announced Friday.

The visit by Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is aimed at promoting the implementation of the outcomes of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Summit, deepening practical cooperation in various fields, and promoting the sustained and in-depth development of China-Africa relations, Mao said at a news briefing.

At the FOCAC Beijing Summit last year, President Xi Jinping proposed that bilateral relations between China and all African countries having diplomatic ties with China be elevated to the level of strategic relations, and that the overall characterization of China-Africa relations be elevated to an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.

President Xi also proposed that China and Africa should jointly advance modernization characterized by six features, and pledged that China will work with Africa to take the ten partnership actions for modernization, which have received warm response from the African side, Mao added.