FOCAC twelve years later

Twelve years have passed since the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), an event that marked an important milestone in China-Africa relations. The forum is a platform to promote mutually beneficial South-South cooperation between China and Africa, based on mutual respect and non-interference in the internal affairs of African countries. In the ten years of its existence, FOCAC has achieved a deepening of China-Africa relations in the economic field. Trade, investment, infrastructure and capacity building have been comprehensively promoted. But as FOCAC prepares to enter its second decade, a number of steps must be taken by Chinese and African partners to improve the current institutional arrangement by expanding space for private sector and civil society participation in decision-making and by increasing the frequency of follow-up processes to ensure effective implementation of agreed upon targets.