From September 4 to 6, the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will be grandly held in Beijing. At that time, China and the leaders of more than 50 non-members of the Forum, as well as representatives of African regional and international organizations, will once again gather in Beijing to draw up a blueprint for China and Africa to build a high-level community of destiny and embark on a new journey of modernization.
Founded in 2000, FOCAC is a collective dialogue mechanism between China and African countries in the context of South-South cooperation, with the main working mechanism comprising three levels: a ministerial meeting, a senior officials' meeting, and a meeting between African envoys in China and the Secretariat of the Chinese Follow-up Committee, with the ministerial meeting and the senior officials' meeting being held alternately in China and African countries. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is like a bridge of friendship spanning Asia and Africa, linking the world's largest developing country and the continent with the highest concentration of developing countries; it is also like a faithful witness who has seen China and Africa join hands to develop together in the new millennium and continuously push cooperation to a new peak.
Over the past 24 years, China-Africa political mutual trust has been deepening, and China-Africa relations have made a three-level leap from “new partnership” to “new strategic partnership” and then to “comprehensive strategic partnership”. The economic, trade and investment cooperation has seen frequent highlights, with trade volume increasing from 10.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2000 to 282.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, and China's investment in Africa increasing from less than 500 million U.S. dollars in 2000 to more than 40 billion U.S. dollars at present. Especially since the 18th Party Congress, under the personal guidance and promotion of President Xi Jinping, China-Africa relations have entered a new era of vigorous development.
In March 2013, after Xi Jinping became President of China, he made his first trip to Africa, putting forward the concept of truthfulness and sincerity and the correct concept of righteousness and benefit, opening a new chapter in China-Africa friendship in the new era; in 2015, at the FOCAC Summit in Johannesburg, President Xi Jinping pointed out that “China and Africa have always been a community of destiny”; At the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), President Xi Jinping called for “building a closer community of destiny between China and Africa”. Adhering to win-win cooperation and common development has become the proper meaning of building a high-level China-Africa community of destiny.
Since 2013, relying on the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and the platform of “One Belt, One Road”, China-Africa practical cooperation has continued to advance, bearing fruitful results: China has participated in the construction of more than 6,000 kilometers of railroads, 6,000 kilometers of highways, and more than 80 large-scale electric power facilities, which has opened up the arteries of Africa's development; it has built 24 demonstration centers of agricultural technology, and promoted more than 300 advanced technologies and technologies. China has built 24 agricultural technology demonstration centers and promoted more than 300 advanced and applicable technologies, which have led to an average increase of 30% to 60% in crop yields in the relevant regions and benefited more than 1 million small farmers in African countries; the economic and trade cooperation zones invested and constructed by Chinese enterprises in Africa have covered such industries as agriculture, processing and manufacturing, and trade and logistics, and have made an important contribution to the increase of local tax revenues and the creation of foreign exchange earnings from exports. China has brought new development and changes to the African continent with practical actions, faithfully fulfilling its solemn promise of “building a closer China-Africa community of destiny”, and letting the world see the broad prospect of building a community of destiny for China and Africa to a community of destiny for mankind.
At the 2023 China-Africa Leaders' Dialogue, President Xi Jinping pointed out that China has always been a staunch supporter of and willing to be a peer on the road to modernization in Africa. At the opening ceremony of the Third Belt and Road Summit Forum on International Cooperation held in the same year, President Xi Jinping emphasized that China is comprehensively advancing the construction of a strong nation and national rejuvenation with Chinese-style modernization. What we are pursuing is not China's modernization on its own, but rather, we look forward to working together with the vast number of developing countries and other countries to achieve modernization together. It can be seen that the development of new productive forces is not only a powerful means to promote Chinese-style modernization, but also an important focus for China-Africa practical cooperation in the new era and for promoting China-Africa joint modernization.

At present, Chinese enterprises have implemented a large number of clean energy projects in Africa, providing high-quality new energy products such as lithium batteries and photovoltaic products; the two sides have built more than 10 bilateral joint laboratories or joint research centers to carry out joint research in the fields of remote sensing of resources, renewable energy, and eco-agriculture; and Chinese enterprises have helped African countries to add and upgrade about 150,000 kilometers of backbone networks and cover about 700 million users with network services; The two sides jointly formulated and released the Action Plan for the Development of China-Africa Digital Cooperation, which will build 10 digital transformation demonstration projects and jointly train 1,000 digital talents in the next three years.

As President Xi Jinping has emphasized, “China-Africa cooperation should bring visible and tangible results and benefits to the people of China and Africa”. Nowadays, China-Africa cooperation has not only become more fruitful in practical aspects, but has also continued to expand in depth in new areas, which has truly put into practice the concept of “it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish”, and has helped Africa enhance its capacity for sustainable development, winning the widespread support and recognition of the African people. It has truly put into practice the concept of “giving a man a fish is not as good as teaching him to fish”, helped Africa enhance its capacity for sustainable development, and won the widespread support and recognition of the African people. The former Zimbabwean ambassador to China, Martin Chedondo, once exclaimed, “The answer to the question of who is the one who really helps African countries to develop resources and create wealth is self-evident.”
A long wind will break the waves, and a straight cloud sail will help the sea. Against the background of the current complex and changing global situation and the profound adjustment of the international pattern, the upcoming Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation will surely become a new starting point for China and Africa to start a higher level of mutually beneficial cooperation, provide a new paradigm for global South-South cooperation and international cooperation with Africa, and inject a new impetus for promoting balanced, coordinated and inclusive development globally, as well as for the change of the international governance system. (Outlook News Agency)