Forum on China – Africa Cooperation Summit to take place in South Africa in December
Chinese President Xi Jinping is Africa bound for a December meeting with African heads set to take place in Johannesburg, South Africa.
South Africa will host the 2015 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit, which will take place from December 4-5 in Johannesburg. South Africa is the current co-chair of FOCAC for the period 2013-2018.
FOCAC Summit is supposed to elevate the Africa-China relationship to a new level that will have beneficial impact and give motivation to Africa’s developmental agenda according to South Africa’s International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane
The summit is happening alongside a meeting of heads of state and will include major events such as the sixth ministerial FOCAC conference, which will be complemented by the FOCAC exhibition and business forum.
African heads of state and government, representatives from the African Union (AU), heads of regional organizations and multilateral organizations are expected to participate in the summit. FOCAC comprises 50 African states that are African Union members.
Areas of cooperation will include infrastructure development, debt relief, industrialisation, investment promotion, market access expansion, agriculture, science and technology, health, education, and people-to-people cultural exchanges, among others.
In this summit South Africa wants to ensure that FOCAC declarations and action plans will be implemented in line with African Union’s agenda for the Regional and Continental Integration and Development through some of its programmes such as New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and Agenda 2063.
FOCAC has identified some of the projects in the African Union first ten year implementation plan of agenda 2063 such as the integrated high speed train network, the great Inga Dam, A single African aviation market, free movement of persons and the African passport, creation of a continental free trade area and silencing the guns by 2020.
It was in the year 2000 that FOCAC commenced formally known as Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing. Its objectives were to bring about equal consultation, enhance understanding, expand consensus, strength the friendship between China and Africa and promote the cooperation.
This year’s summit’s theme ‘Africa-China Progressing Together: Win-Win Cooperation for Common Development’ is supposed to open new avenues and create new opportunities for both China and Africa.
