(FOCAC) Xi proposes action plans to jointly advance modernization with Africa

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech titled "Joining Hands to Advance Modernization and Build a Community with a Shared Future" while attending the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 5, 2024. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

BEIJING, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday that China stands ready to work with Africa to implement 10 partnership action plans to jointly advance modernization.

One-third of the world's population lives in China and Africa, and there will be no global modernization without the modernization of China and Africa, Xi said in a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

The 10 partnership action plans, to be implemented in the next three years, cover the areas of mutual learning among civilizations, trade prosperity, industrial chain cooperation, connectivity, development cooperation, health, agriculture and livelihoods, people-to-people and cultural exchanges, green development and common security, he said.

Xi proposed that the overall characterization of China-Africa relations be elevated to an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.

He also proposed that bilateral relations between China and all African countries having diplomatic ties with China be elevated to the level of strategic relations.

Thanks to nearly 70 years of tireless efforts from both sides, the China-Africa relationship is now at its best in history, Xi said.