BEIJING, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) — The 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit has produced concrete results, setting out a roadmap for China and Africa to work together on modernization to enhance South-South cooperation and drive global development.

The Sept. 4-6 summit in Beijing is the biggest diplomatic event hosted by China in recent years. As one of the main outcomes of the summit, China announced on Thursday that it will jointly promote modernization with Africa by implementing 10 partnership actions over the next three years.

The activities include mutual learning between civilizations, trade prosperity, industrial chain cooperation, connectivity, development cooperation, health, agriculture and livelihoods, people-to-people and cultural exchanges, green development and common security. China has pledged 360 billion yuan (about 51 billion U.S. dollars) of financial support to implement these activities.

At the opening ceremony of the summit, African leaders expressed appreciation for China’s commitment to strengthening cooperation and deepening friendship with Africa.

“China has been a true partner in our fight against poverty and pursuit of prosperity,” Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan said. She said China’s sincere engagement with Africa had played a key role in achieving shared development goals.

At the ninth FOCAC Ministerial Conference held on the eve of the summit, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that the development of the global South represented by China and Africa has a profound impact on the development of human society and that the summit will mark a new milestone for the global South to jointly move toward modernization.

Liu Yuxi, Special Representative of the Chinese Government for Africa, said that since its establishment in 2000, FOCAC has achieved impressive results, becoming a leader in international cooperation with Africa and deepening cooperation with the Global South.

Through FOCAC, China and Africa maintain a high level of mutual trust, adhere to the principle of win-win cooperation, engage in rich and diverse exchanges, and adapt cooperation in various fields to changing times, Liu added.

According to economists and experts, partnership activities effectively contribute to Africa’s modernization goals.

For example, to increase trade, China will voluntarily and unilaterally open its market more widely. China has also decided to grant all least developed countries (LDCs) with diplomatic relations with China, including 33 countries in Africa, zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent tariff lines.

The move is expected to greatly facilitate the two-way flow of Chinese and African products and help strengthen the position of African products in international trade, said Li Hongfeng, dean of the School of African Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

To strengthen industrial chain cooperation, China will support the growth clusters of industrial cooperation with Africa, promote the China-Africa In-Depth Economic and Trade Cooperation Pilot Zone, and launch the “Africa SME Empowerment Program”.

To promote connectivity, China is ready to carry out 30 infrastructure connectivity projects in Africa and promote high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.

Li said that in recent years, China and Africa have deepened cooperation in traditional sectors, including infrastructure, agriculture, capacity building, talent cultivation and technology transfer. At the same time, cooperation has also expanded into future areas such as the green economy and the digital economy.

“Looking to the future, I believe that China-Africa economic and trade cooperation will continue to grow to new heights in line with Africa’s industrialization,” Li said.

Mwangi Wachira, a former World Bank economist and adviser to the Kenyan government, said the lack of modern ports, energy infrastructure and national and cross-border highways has hampered Africa’s modernization. But thanks to FOCAC-led infrastructure projects and China’s long-standing focus on development, Africa is now better positioned to reach its industrialization potential, he noted.