Eighteen years after the first ground-breaking Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC, 2000), launched to officialise and institutionalize China’s relations with Africa, Beijing hosted – on 2-4 September 2018 - 50+ African heads of state/government and international actors during the 7th event of the series. Throughout these past 18 years, the global status and role of China and individual African countries changed dramatically.
FOCAC – the Forum on China-Africa cooperation – meets every three years and allows for a stock-taking of the agenda. By 2018, virtually all African countries (except for Swaziland) engage with Mainland China, which is Africa’s biggest trade partner, a large investor, and a donor with substantial importance for African development. It is, indeed, important to know where Chinese interests move.
The initiative brought together selected high-level experts, businesspeople, policy makers and other stakeholders from Asia and Europe to discuss current economic shifts in Asia and their potential impact on Europe also with a view to providing policy options to foster EU-Asia relations. Specific attention was devoted to Chinese investment in Europe, its relevance for the European economy, and political reactions both at the EU and national level.