BEIJING, China, October 24, 2023/ — On October 23, 2023, the 16th Senior Officials Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was held in Beijing. President of the Chinese Follow-up Committee of the FOCAC and Vice Foreign Minister Deng Li and Senegalese President’s Chief Foreign Affairs Adviser Oumar Demba Ba, whose country is the co-chair of the FOCAC, attended and addressed the opening ceremony. The meeting was co-chaired by Secretary-General of the Chinese Follow-up Committee and Director-General of the Department of African Affairs of the Foreign Ministry Wu Peng and Senegalese Senior Coordinator for the FOCAC Affairs and Senegalese Ambassador to China Ibrahima Sory Sylla. Nearly 300 people, including senior officials and representatives from China, 53 African countries, the African Union Commission and other forum members, as well as observers from some international and regional organizations, were present at the meeting.
Deng Li said that since the Eighth FOCAC Ministerial Conference in 2021, China and Africa have jointly acted on the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation proposed by President Xi Jinping and made important progress in the implementation of follow-up outcomes. China stands ready to work with Africa to strengthen solidarity and mutual trust, explore new grounds in development and cooperation, firmly uphold peace and stability, enhance exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, make good preparations for the new conference next year, and pursue common progress toward modernization, so as to open up a new path for developing countries to seek strengthen through unity.
Senior officials and representatives from the African side spoke highly of the achievements of China-Africa relations and the FOCAC. In his speech, Chief Foreign Affairs Adviser Oumar Demba Ba highly commended the efforts of both sides to promote the development of Africa-China relations on the basis of friendship, mutual respect, mutual trust and mutual benefit since the founding of the FOCAC 23 years ago. The African side is ready to work closely with China to make good preparations for next year’s FOCAC conference, align the African Union’s Agenda 2063 with China’s Second Centenary Goal, and jointly build a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future.
