A two-man delegation from China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), led by its Deputy Director General, Xu Bing, paid a visit Thursday to the Bank Group in Tunis and was received by President Donald Kaberuka.

Discussions with President Kaberuka revolved around cooperation between the two institutions.

China's foreign exchange regulatory agency functions as a bureau under the People's Republic of China. The primary responsibilities of SAFE include drafting policies and regulations related to foreign reserves and foreign exchange, supervising and inspecting forex transactions, and managing China's forex and gold reserves and foreign currency assets. SAFE is also responsible for managing and monitoring foreign exchange transactions under capital account, including inward and outward remittances and payments. The meeting was held in the presence of the Bank's Executive Director for China, Hau Sing Tse.

AfDB-China cooperation and the nation's relations with African countries have taken a quantum leap since the Bank's annual meetings in Shanghai in 2007, with Chinese official statistics indicating that trade between the two sides had increased tenfold to more than US $110 billion over the past decade. So far, both the regional and non-regional members of the Bank Group acknowledge and commend China's contribution to Africa's development and poverty-reduction efforts.

AfDB-China bilateral cooperation dates back to 1996, 11 years after Beijing joined the Bank Group. Since then, China has provided support to the Bank Group's institutional activities, projects, programs and technical assistance operations in Africa, through the People's Bank of China, the China Development Bank, the Export-Import Bank of China and the recently established China-Africa Development Fund with a US $14.59 million initial contribution hosted by the AfDB.