Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pledged Beijing’s continued support for African development, confirming that the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will return this autumn as an “in-person” event.
“African countries are experiencing a new awakening. Models imposed from outside have brought Africa neither stability nor prosperity,” he told the press during the annual “two sessions” of China’s top legislature and political advisory body in Beijing.
Wang also said that the multilateral Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) would return in the autumn as an “in-person” event. The triennial summit’s eighth instalment in 2021 was moved online because of the pandemic.
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Turning to the summit, Wang said Chinese and African leaders will discuss development and cooperation, as well as exchange governance experiences. “I believe that through this summit, China and Africa will enhance their long-standing friendship.”
He added that the summit would also “deepen unity and collaboration to open up new vistas for faster common development and start a new chapter for the China-Africa community with a shared future”.
“China will continue to support Africa in its self-driven development and faster modernisation, and hopes that all sides will pay more attention to, and increase input for Africa’s development, as China has done.”
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“China always holds that Africa should not be marginalised. While China-Africa cooperation thrives, other major countries have again turned their eyes to Africa – China welcomes that,” Wang said.
He added that China has remained Africa’s biggest trading partner over the past 15 years.
Wang visited four African countries – Egypt, Tunisia, Togo and Ivory Coast – as well as Brazil and Jamaica in the Americas in January. The year before, former foreign minister Qin Gang visited five African countries and the African Union.
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President Xi Jinping has also made frequent visits to Africa, with 11 trips between 2014 and 2023. Last week, he welcomed his Sierra Leonean counterpart Julius Maada Bio to a state visit in Beijing.
