Conference preparations to decrease traffic jams in Beijing

Zhao Yixiong, who lives next to the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, is happy that he doesn't have to get up early to avoid traffic controls set up for foreign leaders during the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

According to the Foreign Ministry, some African leaders and foreign ministers attending the forum on Thursday and Friday have arranged to live in the same hotel where preparatory meetings for the forum are taking place, so there are not as many traffic controls as usual.

"The purpose of this arrangement is to have less traffic control so as not to interrupt public transportation in Beijing," said Lu Shaye, director-general of the department of African affairs of the Foreign Ministry, one of the forum organizers.