The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit opened in Beijing on Thursday with the adoption of the Beijing Declaration on Building a China-Africa Community with a Shared Future in a New Era.
The Heads of State and Government attending this high-level event adopted the FOCAC Action Plan (2025-2027).
More than 50 African leaders, including Equatorial Guinea’s Head of State, HE Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, have met with Chinese President, HE Xi Jinping, to announce the transformation of bilateral relations between China and Africa into a strategic partnership.
During his opening speech, Xi Jinping announced financial support worth 360 billion yuan (about 50.7 billion U.S. dollars) for the next three years to implement modernization measures in Africa. In addition to this financial support, the President announced measures to strengthen cooperation in the areas of health, people-to-people exchanges, green development, trade, infrastructure construction, and multilateral forums, among others.
He also proposed that bilateral relations between China and all African countries with diplomatic relations with China be upgraded to a strategic relationship. Thanks to nearly 70 years of unremitting efforts by both sides, China-Africa relations are now at their best in history, and China is willing to work with Africa to launch 10 partnership action plans in the next three years to jointly advance modernization.
He also noted that one-third of the world’s population lives in China and Africa. There will be no global modernization without modernization in China and Africa. The ten partnership action plans, to be implemented in the next three years, will cover the areas of mutual learning among civilizations, trade prosperity, industrial chain cooperation, connectivity, development cooperation, health, agriculture and livelihood, cultural and people-to-people exchanges.
For the first time, this ninth edition organized four high-level parallel meetings on “governance and administration”, “industrialization and modernization of agriculture”, “peace and security” and “high-quality construction of the Belt and Road Initiative”.
According to the Asian side, these four themes deeply reflect the demands and challenges of the current era, as well as the shared concerns and expectations of China and Africa in terms of modern development, and represent the main directions of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in this new era.
FOCAC was established in 2000 as a platform for strengthening Sino-African relations and has since its inception been the site of major Chinese-funded projects in Africa.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said today that the China-Africa partnership is the main pillar of South-South Cooperation.
Guterres said the United Nations is fully committed to supporting the development of a strong partnership between the two regions and promoting the shared global goals of peace, sustainable development and the protection of human rights. He believes that the goal of China-Africa partnership is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda and the African Union’s Agenda 2063, and joint efforts between the two sides will give new impetus to the progress of the continent.
According to official data, Beijing has been Africa’s top trading partner for 15 consecutive years, and has signed agreements under the Belt and Road Initiative with 52 African countries and the African Union Commission.
Trade volume between the two sides reached a record high of $282.1 billion last year, Chinese direct investment in Africa has exceeded $40 billion by the end of 2023, and Beijing has helped create more than 1.1 million jobs in Africa in the past three years.
FOCAC was held in Beijing in 2000, 2006, 2012 and 2018; in Addis Ababa in 2003; in Sharm El-Sheik in 2009 and in Johannesburg in 2015.
In the midst of the COVID period, it was held online in Senegal in 2021. On the occasion of each of these forums, a three-year action plan between China and African countries was launched.
Photos: Miguel Ángel Andjimi (Presidential Press)
Equatorial Guinea Press and Information Office
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