His first destination will be Singapore, where he was invited for a four-day State visit.

He is accompanied by several Cabinet ministers.

From Singapore President Pohamba will travel to Beijing to attend the two-day China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) summit of heads of state and government.

The meeting will start on Friday and is described as a mechanism for collective dialogue and multilateral co-operation, concentrating on issues of economic and social development between Africa and China.

The theme of the 2006 summit is 'Friendship, Peace, Co-operation and Development', and will be preceded by a meeting of African Ministers of Foreign Affairs and their Chinese counterparts on Friday.

Topics under discussion in Beijing will be the consolidation of South-South co-operation and the New Africa-Asia Strategic Partnership (NAASP), which was launched in Jakarta, Indonesia, in April 2005.

The summit will include a roundtable discussion in addition to a high-level dialogue between government and business leaders from the two regions.

Delegates are expected to explore opportunities for concrete and practical co-operation on the New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) and the 18 economic and social development fields identified in the Beijing Declaration of 2000 and the Programme for China and Africa Co-operation in Economic and Social Development identified six years ago.

Delegates are also expected to explore other areas of co-operation identified in the Addis Ababa Action Plan 2004 to 2006 adopted in 2003.

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