Support for Implementing the African Union’s “Agenda 2063”

To implement the important consensus reached between Chinese President Xi Jinping and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during the September 2024 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), China and South Africa jointly released the “China–Africa Modernization Cooperation Initiative” on 23 November, coinciding with the G20 Leaders’ 20th Summit.

The goal of this initiative is to help African countries independently explore a modernization path that suits their own national conditions and to advance sustainable development across the continent.

Both sides reaffirm their support for the African Union’s “Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want” and its seven key aspirations, as well as the development of the African Continental Free Trade Area. They welcomed China’s model of modernization, which provides the Global South—including Africa—with an additional development option.

They also praised FOCAC for its significant contributions to Africa’s modernization over the past 25 years, and highly valued China’s announcement to offer 100% tariff-free access to products from all 53 African countries that maintain diplomatic relations with China.

China and South Africa jointly called on the international community to:

• Accelerate reforms of the global financial system,
• Increase technological support for African countries,
• Strengthen cooperation in green infrastructure and green mineral resources,
• Enhance Africa’s food and medical security,
• Promote rural development and industrial upgrading,
• Expand cultural exchanges, and
• Help African countries achieve the “Six Modernizations”:
  1. Fair and rational modernization
  2. Open and win-win modernization
  3. People-centered modernization
  4. Diverse and inclusive modernization
  5. Environmentally friendly modernization
  6. Peaceful and secure modernization

The release ceremony was attended by China’s Vice Foreign Minister Miao Deyi, South Africa’s Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Alvinia Moeshoa, UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan, and Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto.

Source: Sworna–Hashim–Lily, China Media Group.