BEIJING, June 17 (Xinhua) -- The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit, to be held in Beijing in September, will focus on five goals, a senior Chinese official said.
Dai Bing, director-general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Department of African Affairs, said the summit will seek to take the time-honored friendship between China and Africa to a higher level.
It will strengthen the strategic consensus between the two sides to maintain their friendship, consolidate the political foundation for their unity and cooperation, and inject a strong impetus into the development of the bilateral ties in the new era.
The event will also chart the course for developing future relations. To build a stronger community of shared future between China and African countries and achieve win-win cooperation and common development, it will aim to synergize the Belt and Road Initiative, the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the African Union's Agenda 2063, and the development strategies of individual African countries.
It will seek to enhance national and global support and understanding of China-Africa friendship and cooperation, and to encourage the international society to see the development of China-Africa relations from a more objective and just perspective.
The summit's goals also include promoting economic and trade cooperation, taking longer-term benefits into account as well.
More targeted and effective measures are expected to align Africa's natural resources, population dividends and market potential with China's investment, equipment and technology, so that their cooperation will be market-oriented instead of government-led, expand to production capacity from commodity trading, and with more investments than contracted projects.
The leaders are also expected to discuss a coordinated and balanced development of China-Africa cooperation. To further build the China-Africa comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership, the two sides will seek greater headway in existing areas such as infrastructure, trade, financing, health and human resources development. They will also seek new growth points in fields ranging from poverty reduction, living standards improvement and people-to-people exchanges, to peace and security and environmental protection.
More than a dozen sub-forums and events on the sidelines of the summit will address topics concerning the youth, local and non-governmental efforts, think tanks, media outlets, as well as cooperation in defense security and health.
The summit will promote South-South cooperation, seeking new cooperation between developing countries and securing stronger international support for their efforts.
