Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will begin a six-day official visit to five African countries next Tuesday, continuing a tradition that Chinese foreign ministers travel to the continent for their first overseas trip of a new year since 1991.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang announced on Thursday that Wang will visit Egypt, Djibouti, Eritrea, Burundi and Zimbabwe at the invitation of his counterparts in these countries.

The visits indicate the "high attention" that China pays to its relations with Africa and will help boost the traditional friendship with nations of the continent, Geng said.

He noted that 2020 marks the 20th anniversary of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and is an important year to implement the consensus Chinese and African leaders reached at the 2018 Beijing FOCAC summit.

Geng said he expects the visit will enhance communication between the two sides. China and African countries will jointly push forward cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and take bilateral relations to a new level.