Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian’s Regular Press Conference on November 26, 2021

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Minister of Commerce Wang  Wentao will attend the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on  China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) to be held in Dakar, capital of Senegal, from  November 29 to 30. Before the meeting, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang  Yi will pay a visit to Senegal at the invitation of Minister of Foreign Affairs  and Senegalese Abroad Aïssata Tall Sall.

CCTV: Today,  China announced that President Xi Jinping will attend the opening ceremony of  the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation  (FOCAC) through video link. You just announced that State Councilor and Foreign  Minister Wang Yi and Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao will attend the meeting in  person. Can you share more information?

Zhao Lijian:  President Xi Jinping will attend the opening ceremony of the Eighth Ministerial  Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and deliver a  keynote speech through video link on November 29. The Bureau of the Assembly of  the African Union Heads of State and Government, including President  of Senegal and the African co-chair of FOCAC Macky Sall, President of the Democratic Republic of  the Congo Félix  Tshisekedi, President of South Africa Cyril  Ramaphosa, President of Comoros Azali Assoumani  and President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi,  African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki and UN Secretary-General  Antonio Guterres will also attend the opening ceremony. This is another time  that President Xi Jinping and African leaders will jointly chart the course for  China-Africa relations, following the Johannesburg  Summit of FOCAC in 2015, the Beijing Summit in 2018 and the Extraordinary  China-Africa Summit on Solidarity against COVID-19 in 2020. It will be China’s major  diplomatic operation facing fellow developing countries this year and a grand  gathering of the big, friendly family of China and African after the outbreak of  COVID-19. After the opening ceremony, the foreign ministers or representatives  of the 54 member states of the forum, and ministers responsible for external  economic cooperation and representatives of the African Union Commission will  hold the plenary meeting, where they will jointly evaluate the implementation of  the outcomes of the Beijing Summit and the solidarity of China and Africa  against COVID-19, and outline the development of China-Africa relations in the  next three years and beyond, so as to deepen China-Africa mutual trust and  elevate the practical cooperation. This will deliver greater benefits to the  people in China and Africa with tangible cooperation outcomes and build a  China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era.