The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) has been a significant cooperative mechanism between China and African states since its creation in 2000. The mechanism is designed to bring together African states and Chinese counterparts to promote cooperation. In practice, FOCAC is an instrument that allows African and Chinese officials and private stakeholders to design general and specific strategies to accelerate both sides’ development. Development Reimagined, as an African-led international development consultancy that has special proficiency in Africa-China cooperation, is proud to announce the publication of our FOCAC Introductory Brief with the 9th FOCAC approaching in early September 2024.
Africa is currently the 8th largest economy in the world, and the African Union’s Agenda 2063, the continent’s development blueprint, seeks to turn the continent into the third-largest economic area by 2063 and the world’s manufacturing hub by 2063. However, African per capita incomes and employment levels remain very low in comparison to China, especially for a continent that will house almost 2.5 billion people by 2050. Therefore, mobilizing the resources and potential of the FOCAC mechanism is crucial in Africa’s pursuit of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063.
To date, under the FOCAC umbrella, the African continent has achieved key wins with China in various fields including financing, trade, investment, health, agriculture, green development, people-to-people exchange, and so on. However, challenges remain, especially in articulating and sharing African demands and opportunities for investment, and the backdrop of complicated global geopolitical dynamics and coordination within multilateral financial institutions does not particularly help. Hence, in anticipation of the 9th FOCAC, Development Reimagined believes that it is important to build up a broad picture of the FOCAC mechanism and gain an overview of what happened previously in order to set expectations for the coming conference.
This introductory briefing, inter alia, answers the following questions:
– What is FOCAC and why was FOCAC created?
– Why is FOCAC important to China and African states?
– What key areas has FOCAC covered and the dynamics of FOCAC?
– What are the key achievements and announcements so far?
– Do African countries have other FOCAC-like mechanisms and why is FOCAC unique?
– Highlights of FOCAC 8?
– Emerging topics and what to expect in FOCAC 9.
To access our comprehensive analysis of FOCAC, please click here. And do feedback your views and any other questions you might have for us!
