File photo shows Rwandan workers operate sewing machine at a workshop of C&H Garments Ltd in Kigali, capital city of Rwanda on April 30, 2018. (Xinhua/Lyu Tianran)

KIGALI, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The current Chinese investment in Africa, most especially in infrastructure development, is good for the continent to achieve economic and social transformation on the continent, an official of African Development Bank (AfDB) said here Monday.

"Chinese investments are highly welcome to Africa," Gabriel Negatu, director general of AfDB East Africa regional development and business delivery office, told Xinhua in an interview on the sidelines of the ongoing African Economic Conference that opened on Monday.

Private investment from China, especially in transport, energy and industrial development, would help Africa to speed up the implementation of a continental free trade area, said Negatu.

"China has become Africa's great development partner, because the Chinese government has been able to support heavy infrastructure projects like the Kenya Standard Gauge Railway, among others," he said.

"It is us Africans who need to decide what it is that we want China to invest in. Today the west is not able to support that kind of big infrastructure developments in Africa," he added.

The 13th edition of the annual conference, organized by the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa is held under the theme "Regional and Continental Integration for Africa's Development."

The conference that runs to Wednesday, focuses, among others, on initiatives for accelerating progress in infrastructure integration, including the removal of barriers for movement of people and goods and services across borders.