A rail-sea intermodal train to Africa departs from Southwest China's Chongqing on April 27, 2023. Photo: VCG

Officials and representatives from Africa look forward to discussing many topics at this year's Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and promoting trade with China, the Global Times has learned.

The 2024 Summit of FOCAC will be held in Beijing from September 4 to 6, with the theme of "Joining Hands to Advance Modernization and Build a High-Level China-Africa Community with a Shared Future," China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Tuesday.

"Madagascar was among the first signatories of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). We will have a big meeting between Africa and China (FOCAC) in September, where we will discuss many things, including those within the BRI framework," Jean Louis Robinson, Madagascar's Ambassador to China, told the Global Times.

Robinson said that as Madagascar is an island country, "we will try to be involved in China's Maritime Silk Road, linking China and Madagascar, through which we will improve ports in Madagascar and improve trade with China."

China and Madagascar have long experience in development and trade. The two countries have had trade relations for more than 50 years. Madagascar exports coffee, cocoa, vanilla and mining products to China, and China exports manufactured products, Robinson said.

"In the economic sector, we can say that the two countries are in good shape, but we can still improve to be more win-win, and we will make efforts to work together to make the future better," said the ambassador. 

"For both sides, we will have more products and better-made products exported. Thus, bilateral trade can be multiplied by three or five times or even more," said Robinson.

Through the BRI, cities like Kunming [in Southwest China's Yunnan Province] can drive the development of South Asian and Southeast Asian countries, while having a ripple effect on Madagascar and countries in Africa through the Indian Ocean, said Robinson, who attended the just-concluded China-South Asia Expo in Yunnan's Kunming.

"Cooperation between Africa and China or Nigeria and China is basically on a very good platform. The BRI has opened a good gateway for business between Nigeria and China. All we need to do now is to cooperate further. But there is still a need for us to talk to each other," Hassan Mohammed, a deputy trade commissioner of the Nigerian consulate in Shanghai, told the Global Times.

Leaders of FOCAC's African members will attend the summit at the invitation of the forum. Representatives of relevant African regional organizations and international organizations will attend relevant forum events, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced.

"We must first review what we have done in the past and see where we have achieved our promised cooperation. If not, why? What are the difficulties? The review and discussion will help us determine what we want to do in the next 25 years," Khalifa A. Sy Diop, secretary of external affairs at the China-African People's Friendship Association, told the Global Times. He is also chairman of the West African Association of African Youth Delegation in China.

Diop believes that there are three important needs for Africa in the next 25 years, based on past cooperation: agroecological development, industrial development and talent training.

In previous years, China and Africa have conducted practical cooperation and continuously broadened cooperation in various fields.

Mohammed said that Nigeria and China have had a lot of cooperation in trade, the agriculture sector, the green transition and the new-energy sector.

One of the latest examples was the Action Plan for China-Africa Digital Cooperation and Development, which was jointly issued by China and 26 African countries on Monday, aiming to promote cooperation and development in the digital sector. 

China-Africa cooperation has been advancing in the digital field, covering a wide range of industries from infrastructure to e-commerce, supported by rapidly developing technologies, African officials and business representatives told the Global Times on Monday on the sidelines of the China-Africa Digital Cooperation Forum, which was organized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.