The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is twenty years old. On the occasion of the porcelain wedding, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivered a speech on November 12, 2020, in Beijing, in which he recalled the "radiant" path traveled by the two sides and the common and future challenges.

Twenty years ago, China and African countries decided to write a new page in their relations by establishing the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing. This platform for cooperation has now become "a fine example of multilateralism and win-win cooperation". Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi recalled, on November 12, 2020, the gains made in various fields thanks to the FCSA. The forum, he said, has strengthened China-Africa solidarity.

"In 20 years, FOCAC has significantly consolidated China-Africa solidarity and friendship. In the great Sino-African family, all members, despite their size and level of development, are brothers who respect each other and treat each other equally. China and Africa have continued the deep bonds of friendship forged in the national liberation struggle and have lent each other firm support on issues affecting vital interests and major concerns on both sides," recalled the head of Chinese diplomacy.

During these twenty years, the two sides have worked together to address the challenges of socio-economic development.

"In 2019, China-Africa trade stood at US$208.7 billion and the stock of Chinese direct investment in Africa reached US$49.1 billion, respectively 20 times and 100 times larger than 20 years ago. The two sides jointly worked out the "ten cooperation programs" and the "eight major initiatives," Wang Yi said. China, he said, has helped Africa implement them, including by building dozens of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation zones and industrial parks on the African continent, more than 6,000 kilometers of railways, more than 6,000 kilometers of roads. nearly 20 ports, more than 80 large power generation facilities, more than 130 health facilities, 45 stadiums and more than 170 schools.

A bridge between Chinese and African peoples

In the foreign minister's view, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation has been a framework for consolidating the ties of friendship between chinese and African peoples. "The China-Africa Think Tank Forum, the China-Africa Peoples Forum, the China-Africa Press Center and the China-Africa Youth Festival have continuously developed and are playing a role. Now a more important role as a bridge between Chinese and Africans. China has provided a total of about 120,000 government scholarships to African countries and established 61 Confucius Institutes and 44 Confucius Classes in partnership with 46 African countries. It has sent 21,000 health professionals to 48 African countries who have provided care to about 220 million people," Wang Yi said. In 2014, he suggested, when West Africa was hit by the Ebola outbreak, more than

1,000 Chinese doctors and nurses went to help the affected people in defiance of the dangers.

"When COVID-19 suddenly arrived, China and Africa led a fight against the coronavirus side by side. Last June, President Xi Jinping and African leaders held an extraordinary summit against COVID-19 and sent a strong message of solidarity in the face of the virus," the minister said.

In the face of the current changes in today's world accelerated by the outbreak of COVID-19, China and African countries must strengthen solidarity to build an even stronger China-Africa shared future community, Wang Yi said.

"The new international situation has given a deeper meaning to this strategic decision that is more relevant than ever. We must pursue the principle of "sincerity, real results, friendship and frankness" and the principle of seeking the greatest good and shared interests and firmly support efforts on both sides to defend national sovereignty and dignity, to seek independently a path of development adapted to national realities and to preserve the right to legitimate development in order to achieve together the national recovery", convinced the Minister of Foreign Affairs. For him, it is necessary to build "a China-Africa health community for all".

"China is ready to work with Africa to properly implement the achievements of the FOCAC Beijing Summit and the China-Africa Extraordinary Summit on COVID-19 Solidarity and boost their cooperation for health, resumption of activities and improvement of people's well-being," Wang Yi informed.

Making vaccines "a global public good"

And to reaffirm his country's commitment to make vaccines when they become available a global public good and to provide them to African countries in need to help them defeat, as soon as possible, the virus. Another challenge is to conduct win-win cooperation to build a China-Africa development community.

China, the foreign minister promised, will continue to support Africa in building infrastructure, industrialization process and strengthening its self-development capabilities. "China welcomes the construction of the African Continental Free Trade Area and will provide its secretariat with financial support and training of capacity-building. We need to deepen cooperation on free trade and the integration of industrial and supply chains to help Africa better benefit from the Chinese market and better integrate into the international economic circuit," he said.

The other challenge to succeed is to work towards building a "community with a shared future for mankind." "China and Africa are both firm defenders of multilateralism and major forces for peace and development in the world. We should shoulder our historical responsibilities and firmly uphold the central role of the UN in global and multilateral affairs, the basic norms governing international relations as well as multilateralism, fairness and justice," Xi said.

According to him, it is a question of responding together to global challenges and participating in global governance to change the international order in a more just and reasonable direction.

He said the upcoming FSCA conference, to be held in Dakar in 2021, will be an opportunity to synergize China's Second Centenary Goal and the AU's Agenda 2063, expand the consensus between the two sides and expand China-Africa cooperation in new areas.

"The promising new era puts us on a new historical starting point. Whatever happens in the international situation and whatever the difficulties before us, we will never stop our march forward in China-Africa cooperation and the construction of FOCAC," Wang Yi concluded.

A synthesis by Karim BADOLO