FOCAC effective platform for promoting China-Africa cooperation

The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) has been proven to be an effective and robust means for promoting China-Africa cooperation that has seen fruitful results.

China announced on Monday it would provide an additional 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa and pledged to jointly implement nine programs on future China-Africa cooperation at the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC.

Taking place under the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the forum demonstrates the firm will shared by China and Africa to jointly overcome difficulties and seek common development, and reflects the core value of a China-Africa community with a shared future.

In 2006, the FOCAC Beijing Summit decided to establish a new type of China-Africa strategic partnership. In 2015, the FOCAC Johannesburg Summit decided to build a China-Africa comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership. At the 2018 FOCAC Beijing Summit, the two sides agreed to build an even stronger China-Africa community with a shared future, raising China-Africa relations to a new level.

Over the years, the achievements of the cooperation between the two sides in a range of areas have been felt by local communities and families in Africa.

Since the establishment of the forum, Chinese enterprises have built more than 10,000 kilometers of railways, nearly 100,000 kilometers of highways, nearly 1,000 bridges, 100 ports and more than 80 large-scale power facilities for Africa. Chinese firms have also helped countries in Africa build more than 130 medical facilities, 45 gymnasiums and more than 170 schools, and trained more than 160,000 professionals in various fields for the continent.

The FOCAC has been one of the most striking comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnerships of the 21st century, said Njumbe Smith, a Ph.D. candidate in the School of International Relations and Public Affairs of China's Fudan University, in an opinion piece recently published on The Diplomat website.

Solidarity and mutual assistance between China and Africa have not only consolidated Africa's independent political status, but also enhanced Africa's sustainable development capacity, presenting a bright China-Africa friendship landscape.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the beginning of diplomatic relations between China and African countries. Over the past 65 years, China and Africa have forged an unbreakable fraternity in the struggle against imperialism and colonialism, and embarked on a distinct path of cooperation in the journey toward development and revitalization.

As China and Africa stand at the historic starting point of building a China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era, it is important that the two sides continue to cooperate to fight the pandemic, deepen pragmatic cooperation, promote green development, and uphold equity and justice.

China and Africa will always be a community with a shared future. The forum, which had in the past witnessed the strong bond between China and Africa, will chart a magnificent blueprint for China-Africa cooperation over the next three years, and inject new and strong impetus into the China-Africa friendship.