"Premier Wen will attend the ADB board meeting to be held in Shanghai from May 16 to 17 and deliver a speech," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular briefing.

    It will be the first time the annual board meeting of the ADB has been held in Asia, and the second time outside Africa. In 2001,the bank's annual board meeting was held in Spain.

    It is another significant Africa-related event hosted by China, following the Beijing Summit of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum held in November 2006.

    Themed "African and Asia: Partners in Development", the meeting will focus on infrastructure development in Africa, regional integrity and poverty relief.

    People's Bank of China president Zhou Xiaochuan will chair the meeting. About 2,000 people are expected to attend the meeting, including finance ministers and governors of the central banks of member states, representatives of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other regional development finance organizations and non-governmental organizations.

    A series of business seminars will be held on the sidelines of the ADB board meeting, which are aimed at further tapping the potential of cooperation between China and Africa.

    Founded in 1964, the ADB has 77 members from Africa, America, Europe and Asia. China became a member in 1985.