DAR ES SALAAM — Delegates to a one-day conference on China-Africa cooperation through the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) agreed that the forum has helped in bolstering friendship and cooperation between China and Africa.

Opening the conference on Oct 27 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Tanzania's Minister for Trade and Industrial Development Omar Shabaan said FOCAC, established in 2000, is helping Africa to realize industrialization.

The FOCAC was an effective platform and multilateral mechanism for China and African countries to conduct collective consultations and carry out pragmatic cooperation.

"FOCAC is raising African countries' status in the global industry and supply chains," Shabaan told the conference jointly hosted by the Chinese Embassy in Tanzania and the Center for International Policy - Africa (CIP), a regional think-tank that analyses pressing global challenges and contributes to actionable steps that leaders and citizens can adapt to address them.

Shabaan said Africa's trust in Sino-African cooperation is a result of China's favorable and deliverable policy toward the continent, which is based on sincerity, equality, mutual benefit and common development aimed at building a community with a shared future for mankind.

The Chinese ambassador to Tanzania Chen Mingjian said the FOCAC is a successful example of mutual assistance and common development among developing countries.

Chen said since the establishment of the FOCAC, Chinese enterprises have built more than 10,000 kilometers of railways, nearly 100,000 kilometers of roads, nearly 1,000 bridges, nearly 100 ports, and a large number of hospitals and schools in Africa, which have made outstanding contributions to improving infrastructure and enhancing independent development capacity in Africa.

"The FOCAC is an important pillar for building a China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era," said the Chinese envoy.

She said in 2021, China-Africa trade volume was $254.2 billion, and China's stock of direct investment in Africa exceeded $56 billion, 25 times and 100 times that of 2000, when the forum was established, respectively.

Wu Peng, the Secretary General of the Chinese Follow-up Committee of FOCAC and Director-General of the Department of African Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, said over the past 22 years, with the continuously enabling mechanism and enriching content, FOCAC has become a flag of China-Africa relations and South-South cooperation.

Speaking in a video message, Wu said China firmly believed that developing countries should be more confident to blaze a new pace suited to their national conditions toward modernization.

Wang Huiyao, President of the Centre for China and Globalization, said in his video presentation that China-Africa relationship is heading for a direction of prosperity and richness.

"China-Africa has achieved fruitful cooperation in terms of trade, investment, infrastructure, construction and many more," said Wang.

The African Union (AU) Permanent Representative to China, Rahamtalla Osman Elnor, said in a video presentation that the 8th FOCAC ministerial conference held in Dakar, Senegal, announced initiatives and commitments for new important development for the African continent.

Elnor said it was important for African governments, businesses to digest the initiatives and commitments and ensure implementation of what has been agreed.

President and CEO of the CIP Omar Mjenga said China-Africa friendship has not been an overnight achievement, nor has it been gifted from on high.

"The friendship has been fostered throughout the years when China and Africa supported and stood alongside each other in trying times," said Mjenga.

He added that "it is during these trying and difficult times, when none was ready to support the continent, when China came to the heed of many African countries despite of its poor economic situation at that time."

Indeed, China and Africa have stood together in success and adversity, setting an example for building a global community of a shared future, said Mjenga.

Delegates to the conference included former Tanzanian ambassadors to China, ambassadors and high commissioners representing their countries from the African continent and representatives from international organizations, especially the United Nations.