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Giving Fidel Castro a bronze bust of the Cuban leader as a young man, President Xi Jinping wished the revolutionary Cuban leader a happy birthday and said he felt glad to see him in good health.

Calling Castro an old friend and respected leader, Xi spoke highly of his contribution to China-Cuba ties as the two met on July 22 in Havana, Cuba, the last stop on Xi's four-nation Latin American trip.

"You are the founder of the Cuban revolution and also of the China-Cuba relationship," Xi said.

Castro, who turns 88 on Aug 13 and seldom makes public appearances anymore, gave Xi a tour of his farm.

Castro pointed out the moringa and mulberries - past gifts from China. Castro said growing them can help produce animal feed in Cuba.

Xi said he brought more seeds of both as presents for Castro to honor the friendship the two countries have formed.

It was Xi's first visit to Cuba as president. He visited the country and met with Castro in 2011 when he was vice-president.

Don't overlook Africa,says China UN envoy

The world should attach importance to Africa in drafting the development agenda, a Chinese envoy to the UN says.

"The post-2015 development agenda should give attention to Africa's development," said Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the UN, at a General Assembly meeting.

"Development in Africa is an important component of global development cooperation and forms the basis for global development."

Importance should be attached to African development from a "strategic" level and efforts should be made to continue to help Africa to achieve Millennium Development Goals, he said, adding that in drafting the agenda, "we should give priority to the special challenges and development needs of Africa".

"African countries face a deteriorating development environment and a decrease in resources for development. They have confronted great challenges in achieving Millennium Development Goals."

An Ethiopian has been sentenced to seven months' jail for trafficking the plant khat to China, the first such case in the country, which classed the plant as an illegal drug this year.

The verdict was handed by the Intermediate People's Court of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, this month.

Ibrahim Abdulsemed Abdosh was also fined 30,000 yuan ($4,800), said Liu Yun, the judge in the case, on July 22.

Chinese customs officers at Hangzhou International Airport found 0.63 kilograms of khat carried by the accused, who arrived from Addis Ababa on January 13, Liu said. She said he was aware of China's ban on khat, a leafy plant chewed as a stimulant.

China, Venezuela sign $5b in financial deals

Beijing and Caracas signed more than $5 billion in financial agreements on July 21 to support the South American country's economic development as President Xi Jinping concluded his first visit to the country.

The agreements included $4 billion in credit to Venezuela and a $690 million development loan for the exploration of gold and copper.

Gao Jian, researcher at Sublime China Information Co Ltd, a commodity market information service, said Venezuela is China's major crude oil supplier in South America and that the agreement is part of China's strategy of diversifying its crude oil imports.

47 killed as plane crashes in Taiwan

A TransAsia Airways plane crash-landed on an island off the west coast of typhoon-hit Taiwan on July 23, killing 47 people, Taiwan's civil aviation authority said.

The mainland's Taiwan affairs chief Zhang Zhijun conveyed his condolences to his Taiwan counterpart Wang Yu-chi.

The plane, a 70-seat turboprop ATR 72, crashed near the runway and caught fire while making a second landing attempt with 54 passengers and four crew on board.

"It's chaotic on the scene," civil aviation chief Jean Shen said.

Eleven injured people had been taken to hospital.

The accident happened on Penghu Island, a thinly populated place that averages about two flights a day from Taipei.

Xi's vision of modern China - gift-wrapped

President Xi Jinping gave Argentina three Chinese movies and TV series, which show a glimpse into modern Chinese life, as gifts.

"Even I didn't expect that President Xi would sign the copies and give them as national gifts to Argentina's vice-president," said Chi Yufeng, chairman of Perfect Pictures, which produced the three.

The TV series Beijing Youth and To Elderly with Love, and the film Love Is Not Blind, all set in modern China, are among the country's most popular recent screen productions. They were praised not only for being well-written but showing social realities such as aging problems and young people's disputed views of success and relationships.

Zhao Baogang, who directed the two TV series, said the gift is a sign of the government's efforts to promote China's contemporary cultural industries worldwide.

US should adopt open stance, says Li

Top business representatives and former senior officials from China and the US held talks on July 22-23 to consolidate economic collaboration after the top two economies reached a consensus this month.

"A good Sino-US relationship benefits both sides and influences the world while providing scope for us to expand the benefits of globalization," Premier Li Keqiang said in a meeting in Beijing with US representatives at the Sixth Annual China-US CEO and Former Senior Officials' Dialogue.

"China is willing to be a participant and contributor to the new international economic and trade system, and expects the US to create more favorable conditions for deepening Sino-US cooperation with a more open stance."

(China Daily Africa Weekly 07/25/2014 page2)