Hello, and welcome to this edition of  Africa Express here on China Radio International. I'm your host, Wei Tong. 

With the world speeding up its pace of economic globalization, a world village is no longer a remote and unrealistic dream. 

Under such circumstances, how to maintain cultural diversity and promote cultural exchange between nations has become a crucial issue for all countries, especially in the developing world.

China is one of the four ancient civilizations, along with ancient India, Babylon and Egypt. Africa, especially its eastern part, is believed to be the cradle of man's civilization.

Recently, China's Ministry of Culture initiated "African Cultural Visitors Program". Seventeen senior cultural officials from eleven African countries were invited to visit some cultural relics and facilities in China, ranging from folk culture village in southern Shenzhen to historic Buddhist grottoes in western China.

Chinese and African officials have exchanged ideas on mapping out policies to preserve historic sites in danger of extinction and promote cultural diversity. They have discussed how China and Africa can cooperate in achieving these goals. I talked to Solomon Ali from Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Ethiopia, who shared with me his perspective on the program.

(Q&A, dialogue with Solomon, part-1)

That was Solomon Ali, a cultural official from Ethiopia. Many westerners have advocated Africa to maintain its indigenous culture, to some extent, to ensure income from tourism. Indeed, some villages can attract many tourists each year but the tribes still remain underdeveloped. So what is Solomon's view on it, preserving aboriginal culture at the risk of slowing down or even halting local economic development? Is it a selfish idea? Next time, we'll continue our chat with Solomon. I am Wei Tong and bye for now!