Cairo (Egypt), Nov 8 Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has said that China is not courting Africa to satisfy its booming need for energy.

"The case is not what the Western reports described, that China went to Africa only for the energy.

When we sent health care personnel to Africa, and when we sent construction teams to build the Tanzania-Zmbia Railway. We never thought about exploring oil in Africa," The China Daily quoted Wen, as saying.

Wen also said that China indeed has energy cooperation with Africa, but it is definitely not the aim that pushed China to go to the continent.

"Sinopec (a Chinese state-owned oil giant) is the Chinese company holding largest oil deals with Africa, but the volume it explores and imports from Africa is less than one third of such trade volume between Mobil and the continent," Wen said.

"Energy is never the main part of our cooperation with Africa. What China expects is comprehensive cooperation of mutual benefits," he added.

Wen is scheduled to attend a ministerial meeting of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum today, the second summit between Beijing and Africa since the leaders met in the Chinese capital in 2006. (ANI)