China's trade with Africa is set to top $50 billion this year from just $11 billion in 2000.

Here is a timeline of major deals and agreements since 2004:

- Jan/Feb 2004: Total Gabon signs a contract with China's Sinopec under which Gabonese crude oil will be sold to China for the first time.

- June 2004: Chinese Vice-President Zeng Qinghong signs a series of agreements on a trip to South Africa, including a deal opening the way for the export of South African citrus to China and letters of intent for trade and investment projects.

- Jan 2005: Angola says it plans to use a $2 billion loan from China to repair its infrastructure. China added another $1 billion to its oil-backed loan in March 2006.

- July 2005: China and Nigeria sign an $800 million crude oil deal between Petrochina International and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. to supply 30,000 barrels of crude oil per day to China.

- Jan 2006: China's top offshore oil producer CNOOC agrees to pay $2.3 billion for a stake in an oil and gas field in Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil-producer. The deal is China's largest ever overseas acquisition.

- April 2006: Algeria awards contracts estimated at $7 billion to Japanese and Chinese consortiums to build parts of a 1,300-km (800-mile) highway from Tunisia to Morocco.

- April 2006: Chinese President Hu Jintao concludes an offshore exploration deal with Kenya. The pact allows CNOOC to explore in six blocks covering 115,343 sq km (44,500 sq miles) in the north and south of Kenya.

- May 2006: Angola's state-run oil company Sonangol awards Sinopec a 40 percent stake in its offshore oil Block 18, an investment amounting to more than $1.4 billion.

- June 2006: Beijing agrees to plough $35 million into building West Africa's biggest theatre in Senegal and announces debt relief for Dakar amounting to 160 million yuan ($20 million)

- June 2006: China agrees to extend more than $2 billion in credit to help war-ravaged Angola rebuild its economy.