Excerpt from the United States Department of State daily press briefing:

QUESTION: China's President earlier today told African leaders that China will lend $20 billion to nations across the continent for farming and infrastructure projects over the next three years. Does this Department welcome those loans? Was there any communication between the United States and China on this aid? And ultimately, is any effort being made to coordinate China's growing role in Africa with that being played by the United States?

MR. VENTRELL: Thanks, Guy. We did see that announcement and, as you know, China and Africa are increasingly engaging economically and in other areas, and we routinely discuss with the Chinese Government ways that we can increase cooperation between our two governments to address long-term development challenges facing many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. So we continue that dialogue with our Chinese counterparts.

QUESTION: And is China and the United - are China and the United States on the same page in terms of these specific loans?

MR. VENTRELL: I don't know about these specific loans. I know that we continue a dialogue with the Chinese Government about the development work they're doing in Sub-Saharan Africa. We do extensive development work there as well, and so we have a dialogue and discuss the issue frequently.

(The briefing was concluded at 1:39 p.m.)