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BEIJING, April 18-- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday discussed the COVID-19 epidemic and the China-Africa cooperation in a phone conversation with Amadou Ba, foreign minister of Senegal, which holds the co-chair of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). Noting that China bears in mind that African countries, including Senegal, gave firm support to China during the critical phase of its fight against the epidemic, Wang said China is very concerned about the ongoing spread of the epidemic in Africa. The Chinese government and all sectors of society have taken active actions to assist Africa, with various material assistance shipped to African countries and the African Union (AU) in batches, Wang said. Chinese provinces and cities have also taken the initiative to provide assistance to African countries and renowned Chinese medical experts have held 14 video conferences with their African counterparts and the 46 Chinese medical teams in Africa have conducted nearly 400 training sessions for local medical workers, according to the Chinese minister. Wang also noted that at the request of the World Health Organization and the AU, China has sent two medical teams to Ethiopia and Burkina Faso respectively to assist the two countries and their neighboring countries in fighting the epidemic. China is preparing to provide a new batch of urgently needed supplies to African countries for the next stage and send more expert teams to relevant African countries to help fight the epidemic. | 
