China appointed Mr. Liu Yuxi as the new ambassador to the African Union last month. Liu has been working in several African countries for more than ten years. He said in an exclusive interview with CGTN that Chinese and African people have always been good friends and that their global and strategic partnership has expanded to many sectors. Girum Chala reports from Addis Ababa.

LIU YUXI CHINESE AMBASSADOR TO AU "The China-Africa Cooperation Forum has existed for more than 18 years. Between China and Africa, we have had many achievements come from our cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, agriculture, industrialization and energy, and especially on the human and cultural level. You can see everywhere in African countries all kinds of infrastructure projects. These kinds of projects have helped a lot of African people to continue to strengthen their development. I am sure that with the new summit, with the initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping, with the consensus of African heads of state, this cooperation will continue to flourish and bring more and more fruits in the field of cooperation on the strengthening of peace and security, in the cultural domain, a bit of everything really."

LIU YUXI CHINESE AMBASSADOR TO AU "Between China and the AU, friendly cooperation is very important. The AU plays a very important role, directive and associative, between African countries and China. In recent years we have had many important projects with the African Union in safeguarding peace and security, the resolution of hot spots on the African continent and also health projects. We are in the seat of the AU. It is a jewel of cooperation between China and the AU. I am sure that with the new summit, we will continue to work in this direction to strengthen our cooperation in the field of safeguarding peace and security and in the field of sustainable development, infrastructure projects and capacity building of the AU and also we will continue our cooperation in the fields of health, education, transfer of technologies, etc."