By Zhang Maorong, World Economy Institute of China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations; cartoon drawings by Liao Tingting
 

The 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) came to a successful conclusion on September 4.

The Beijing Declaration and FOCAC Beijing Action Plan were adopted at the two-phase roundtable meeting on Tuesday, chaired respectively by Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa. Xi met the press together with former and new African co-chairs of the forum after conclusion of the Beijing summit.

The FOCAC Beijing Summit yielded fruitful outcomes, mapping out a blueprint for China-Africa win-win cooperation and common development in the new era, sending the world a strong signal of the two sides going forward hand in hand and ushering in new historic heights of China-Africa relations.

On a new historic starting point, China-Africa pragmatic cooperation will be further consolidated. The summit agreed to enhance the alignment of strategies and policy coordination and closely align the Belt and Road Initiative with the African Union Agenda 2063 and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, injecting an impetus to bilateral cooperation.

The summit also agreed to enhance pragmatic cooperation focusing on implementation of the eight major initiatives in the next three years and beyond, which outlines a new roadmap for China-Africa cooperation in the new era and pushes ahead on high quality development of China-Africa cooperation.

FOCAC has provided a platform to boost the Africa-China partnership since its founding 18 years ago. The successful hosting of the Beijing Summit has enriched the connotations of the China-Africa community with a shared future, setting up a milestone for South-South cooperation. The summit has also brought China-Africa cooperation to a new historic starting point.

On the new journey, all FOCAC members will build a community that assumes joint responsibility, pursues win-win cooperation, delivers happiness for all, enjoys common cultural prosperity, ensures common security and promotes harmony between humanity and nature, which will inject new momentum to the China-Africa comprehensive, strategic and cooperative partnership.

As an ancient Chinese scholar once observed, "Only with deep roots can a tree yield rich fruit; only filled with oil can a lamp burn brightly." With the Beijing Summit as a new historic starting point, the 2.6 billion Chinese and African peoples will pool their wisdom and strength together to promote peace and development and forge a stronger Sino-African friendship and an even closer China-Africa community with a shared future. The China-Africa cooperation will expect more brilliant prospects.

(The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Panview or CCTV.com. )

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