05 Sep 2024

After nearly 70 years of hard work, China-Africa relations are now at their best. These are the words of China President, Dr Xi Jinping when officially opening the 2024 Forum On China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit Thursday in Beijing, China, attended by President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi and other  African leaders. 

President Xi highlighted the need for China and Africa to grow ties and work together to promote modernisation and build a community with a shared future. He said the establishment of the FOCAC in 2000 was an important milestone in the history of China-Africa relations.

“Over the past 24 years, China and African have worked hand in hand in the spirit of sincerity, affinity and good faith,” said President Xi. 

He proposed that China’s bilateral relations with all African countries with which it had diplomatic ties be elevated to the level of strategic relations and that the overall positioning of China-Africa relations be elevated to the level of an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future. 

President Xi said Africa was also experiencing a new awakening and steadily moving towards modernisation goals as outlined in the African Union’s 2063 Agenda. 

The dream of modernisation pursued by China and Africa President Xi said, would surely set off a wave of modernisation in the global South, and write a new chapter in building a community with a shared future for mankind. To this end, he pleaded for cooperation to promote fair and reasonable modernisation. 

“To promote national modernisation, we must not only follow the general laws of modernisation, but also conform to the actual conditions of our country. China is willing to strengthen exchanges of experience in governance with African countries, support countries in exploring a path of modernisation that suits their national conditions and ensure equal rights and opportunities for all countries,” said President Xi. 

He said that mutually beneficial cooperation was in line with long-term and fundamental interests of all countries and indicated that China was willing to deepen cooperation with Africa in the fields of industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade and investment as well as set a benchmark for high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative. 

President Xi stated that China was also willing to actively cooperate with Africa in areas such as talent development, poverty reduction and employment. ends