China-Africa relations have "gone from strength to strength" since the start of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2000, Ireland's former Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, also co-chairman of InterAction Council, told CGTN's Michael Voss in an exclusive interview days before the opening of the 8th Ministerial Conference of FOCAC. Ahern, who has been on many visits to China and African countries, acknowledged the positive role of the forum in strengthening China-Africa relations and pointed out that ties have been deepening through the decades.