FOCAC Summit to bring the next frontier closer

The ongoing 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation is expected to elevate Sino-African engagement and cooperation to a higher level, as it is likely to suggest ways to overcome the challenges facing the world and outline the measures needed to consolidate the gains already made by the two sides.

The third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, held in July, resolved to comprehensively deepen reform and promote high-level opening-up, thereby creating new opportunities for Africa and the rest of the world to share the fruits of China's development.

The robust cooperation between China and Africa, especially after the first China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo was held in Hunan province in 2018, has provided African countries greater access to the Chinese market. Trade between the two sides in 2023 reached $282.1 billion, up 11 percent year-on-year, and Chinese investment in Africa has increased to $40 billion.