Premier Li Keqiang Sunday kicks off an eight-day visit to Africa, his first tour to the continent since taking office last year.

The trip is widely considered to be a diplomatic effort to upgrade Sino-African ties to a new high, as well as to boost domestic enterprises' confidence on investing in Africa.

From May 4 to 11, Premier Li will visit Ethiopia, Nigeria, Angola and Kenya. During the tour, China and the African countries will sign nearly 60 cooperation deals, covering areas such as trade, health, culture, rail, aviation and electric power.

"The four countries are carefully chosen. They are leading trade partners of China and representative nations of the continent," said Liu Haifang, a deputy director of the Center for African Studies at Peking University.

Ethiopia is a traditional friendly partner with China and its capital Addis Ababa is home to the headquarters of the African Union (AU), constructed with Chinese assistance. During the visit to the country, Premier Li will visit the AU headquarters and deliver a speech there on China's approach to and position on advancing Sino-Africa cooperation.

Nigeria will hold the 2014 World Economic Forum on Africa, which Li will attend and give a speech.

Angola plays home to 100,000 to 200,000 Chinese, who are engaged in labor, construction and trade.

Kenya is the country China has invested most in on the continent.

Chinese exchanges with African countries have always been accused as resource plunder by foreign media.

Premier Li rebutted such claims in an interview with African reporters on April 30.

"Like many African countries, China once suffered foreign invasion and fell under colonial and semi-colonial rule. 'Do not do to others what you do not want done to you' is a millennia-old idea important in Chinese civilization. The so-called 'China's neocolonialism in Africa' is a false accusation inconsistent with Chinese tradition and culture," he said, according to Capital FM Kenya.

The tour will also give more confidence to Chinese investors in the continent after lingering fears triggered by Arab Spring uprisings, Liu said.

"Africa is a great place for Chinese labor-intensive factories to move to amid the domestic industrial upgrading," Liu said. "Against widespread economic depression, Africa is one of few continents with a trend of stable economic rise."