Senior Officials Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) kicked off in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Friday.

Senior officials from China and African countries met here to prepare for the upcoming fourth ministerial meeting scheduled for Nov. 8-9.

"The Senior Officials Meeting is to make preparation for the fourth Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC to be held in two days, " said Ibrahim Ali Hassan, secretary general of the fourth FOCAC ministerial meeting, at the opening ceremony.

"The meeting is to review and adopt the draft program of work of the fourth ministerial conference," he said.

Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Zhai Jun said in a speech delivered at the opening ceremony that "The meeting will also map out plans for China-Africa friendly cooperation."

The FOCAC is a mechanism for collective dialogue and cooperation jointly established by China and Africa to cope with new challenges and facilitate common development.

Since the launch of FOCAC in 2000, three ministerial conferences have been held in Beijing, Addis Ababa and Beijing respectively.