(AFP) - Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged on Thursday more than $50 billion in financing for Africa over the next three years, promising to deepen cooperation in infrastructure and trade with the continent as he addressed Beijing's biggest summit since the Covid pandemic.

More than 50 African leaders and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres are attending the China-Africa forum, according to state media.

African leaders already secured a plethora of deals this week for greater cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, mining, trade and energy.

Xi hailed ties with Africa as their "best period in history" as he addressed the leaders at the forum's opening ceremony in Beijing's ornate Great Hall of the People on Thursday.

"China is ready to deepen cooperation with African countries in industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade and investment," he said.

"Over the next three years, the Chinese government is willing to provide financial support amounting to 360 billion yuan ($50.7 billion)," Xi said.

More than half of that will be in credit, he said, with $11 billion "in various types of assistance" as well as $10 billion through encouraging Chinese firms to invest.

He also promised to help "create at least one million jobs for Africa".

Xi pledged $141 million in grants for military assistance, saying Beijing would "provide training for 6,000 military personnel and 1,000 police and law enforcement officers from Africa".

Guterres told the forum that growing ties between China and Africa could "drive the renewable energy revolution".

"China's remarkable record of development -- including on eradicating poverty -– provides a wealth of experience and expertise," he said.

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi hailed the summit as a "complete success" at a joint news conference with his Senegalese and Congolese counterparts later on Thursday.

"When China stands shoulder to shoulder alongside (its) African strategic partners, we will inevitably play a greater role in promoting prosperity for the peoples of China and Africa, and in upholding global peace and stability," Wang said.

Congo's Jean-Claude Gakosso described China-Africa relations as "exceptional".

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa lauded China's $50 billion pledge as a "great boon" for Africa.

- Deals and pledges -

China, the world's number two economy, is Africa's largest trading partner and has sought to tap the continent's vast troves of natural resources including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals.

It has also furnished African countries with billions in loans that have helped build much-needed infrastructure but have sometimes stoked controversy by saddling governments with huge debts.

Analysts say that Beijing's largesse towards Africa is being recalibrated in the face of economic trouble at home and that geopolitical concerns over a growing tussle with the United States may increasingly be driving policy.

Bilateral meetings held on the sidelines of the summit delivered a slew of pledges on greater cooperation in projects from railways to solar panels and avocados.

Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema said after meetings on Wednesday he had overseen a deal between his country's state-owned power company ZESCO and Beijing's PowerChina to expand the use of rooftop solar panels.

China and Nigeria -- one of Beijing's biggest debtors in Africa -- signed an agreement to "deepen cooperation" in infrastructure, including "transportation, ports and free trade zones".

- Expanding transport links -

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan obtained a commitment from Xi to push for new progress on a long-stalled railway connecting his country to neighbouring Zambia.

That project -- towards which Zambian media says Beijing has pledged $1 billion -- is aimed at expanding transport links in the resource-rich eastern part of the continent.

Zimbabwe also won promises from Beijing for deeper cooperation in "agriculture, mining, environmentally friendly traditional and new energy (and) transportation infrastructure", according to a joint statement.

The southern African nation and Beijing also agreed to sign a deal that would allow the export of fresh Zimbabwean avocados to China, it said.

Kenyan leader William Ruto said Xi had also promised to open up China's markets to agricultural products from his country.

The two sides agreed to work together on the expansion of Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway, which connects the capital Nairobi with the port city of Mombasa and was built with finance from Exim Bank of China.

Ruto also secured a pledge for greater cooperation with China on the Rironi-Mau Summit-Malaba motorway, which Kenyan media has said is expected to cost $1.2 billion.

Ruto asked China last year for a $1 billion loan and the restructuring of existing debt to complete other stalled construction projects. Kenya now owes China more than $8 billion.

© Agence France-Presse