As part of the China Culture in Focus 2013 series activities, the China-Africa Museum Directors Forum was held in Beijing on Monday.

A total of 28 museum directors from 14 African countries and 13 provinces and cities in China attended the forum, introducing the current status of each museum, and discussing future cooperation in personnel training, exhibit exchange, and relics preservation between China and Africa.

Directors from both sides have expressed the will to launch cooperative programs.

Guo Xiaoling, director of Beijing's Capital Museum, said that they have established relationships with more than 30 countries, but unfortunately none of them are African countries. “The African continent is rich in cultural and historical heritage. We are very eager to cooperate with African countries in exchanging exhibits,” Guo said.

“We plan to reopen our national museum in December this year, and we want to establish a relationship with museums in China and learn their experiences,” Nadege Amkagne, the head of the museum division from Cameroon Ministry of Culture, said at the forum, “China has a very unique experience in the preservation of cultural relics.”

There have already been some pilot programs in the field. The National Museum of China has been cooperating with the National Museum of Kenya on an underwater archeology program in Lamu Archipelago, Kenya, since 2010.

Nanjing Museum has sent a team of five experts to Nigeria, and gave training in pottery and porcelain restoration in October. The Inner Mongolia Museum will send experts to Mauritius to share their experience on museum digitalization.

The African museum directors delegation has visited six museums in China during the past week, which includes the National Palace Museum, Capital Museum and Henan Museum.

“I am very impressed by the IT technology they used in approaching young people,” said Cecile Kalebi, the director of the national museum in Seychelles. “We have to use multimedia, such as mobile applications, touch screens and laptops. Because this is how they communicate. ”

“The forum is an example of implementation of the Beijing Action Plan 2013-15 adopted during the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation last year,” Zhao Haisheng, the deputy director at the liaison bureau of Ministry of Culture, said at the forum.

“We will continue on the cultural exchange program, and promote long-term cooperation between China and Africa.”