On July 4th, the opening ceremony of Seventh China-Africa Think Tank Forum was held in Beijing. It was hosted by the Secretariat of Chinese FOCAC Follow-up Committee, and organized by Institute for African Studies, Zhejiang Normal University and Center for Strategic and International Studies, Counsellors' Office of the State Council.

Opening Ceremony of Seventh China-Africa Think Tank Forum

As an important supporting activity of Beijing Summit of 2018 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Seventh China-Africa Think Tank Forum had a discussion on "Reform and Opening-up and China-Africa Relation". The forum drew great attention from China and Africa. Attending the forum were African envoys in China from 44 African countries, government officials from 52 African countries, think tank scholars, media representatives, leaders of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, leaders of Counsellors' Office of the State Council, leaders of CAFIC, leaders of Zhejiang Normal University, Chinese scholars from national famous think tanks and universities, as well as the press, more than 380 in total. The forum also received extensive attention from dozens of mainstream media in China and Africa.

Liu Hongwu, President of Institute for African Studies, Zhejiang Normal University, hosted the first plenary meeting. Peter Kagwanja, President of Kenya Institute for African Policy Studies, and Li Xinfeng, Vice President of Institute of West-Asian and African Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, delivered a keynote speech respectively. Both of them highlighted the significance of China's development experience to African countries.

The forum lasted for two days, including an opening ceremony, a first plenary meeting, a group discussion, a second plenary meeting, a closing ceremony, etc. Three sub-group discussions were made on "The 40th Anniversary of China's Reform and Opening-up and the Development of China-Africa Relations", "The Experience and Enlightenment of China's and Africa's Independent Exploration of Development Roads", and "China-Africa Think Tank Media Cooperation—Targeting the Enhancement of Communication and Discourse Rights". A series of consensus had been reached on the issues of China's development experience, Africa's opportunities and challenges for achieving independent and sustainable development, and the complementation and mutual benefits in the development of China and Africa.

Liu Jisen, Executive President of Institute for African Studies, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, attended the forum and delivered a speech in the group discussion which took "The 40th Anniversary of China's Reform and Opening-up and the Development of China-Africa Relations" as its theme. He made a brief introduction of the contributions Guangdong Province made to China-Africa cooperation, and put forward suggestions on China-Africa future cooperation from five aspects.

In 2011, China-Africa Think Tank Forum was hosted by Zhejiang Normal University with the support of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2012, the forum was incorporated into the framework of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Since then, it has become a fixed mechanism for China-Africa civil dialogue. Every year, China-Africa Think Tank Forum is held in China and Africa in turn, and it has already made great achievements up to now.