Investors like China play a crucialrole for resource-rich Africa, as a wayto get funds flowing, beyond the tradi-tional donor money from multilateralagencies. In November, Chinese Pre-mier Wen Jiabao pledged $10 biliionin preferential loans to Africa under athree-year action pian. According toFelix Mutati, Zambian Trade Minister,Zambia, as Africa's largest copper pro-ducer, is hoping to secure at least $1 bil-lion of that sum.