Kufuor to attend AU Centre foundation stone ceremony

ADDIS ABABA, May 24 (Xinhua/GNA) -- President John Agyekum Kufuor will arrive in Addis Ababa on Friday to attend the foundation stone laying ceremony for the China-aided African Union (AU) conference center, the pan-African body said on Wednesday.

AU spokesperson Habiba Mejri-Cheikh told Xinhua that President Kufuor, who is AU Chairman, would join other African heads of state, including Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, to lay the foundation stone for the conference center at the AU headquarters. She said AU Commission Chairperson Alpha Omar Konare would also take part in the ceremony, which would form part of this year's Africa Day celebrations.

At the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in November last year, Chinese President Hu Jintao announced that China would build a conference center for the AU to support African countries in their efforts to strengthen themselves through unity and support the process of African integration.

The cost of the conference center is estimated at more than 100 million U.S. dollars and it would become China's largest aid project to Africa since 1978 when China started the reform and opening up policy, the Chinese embassy in Addis Ababa stated.