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2nd FOCAC summit held in South Africa

By
Puneet Kaur
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The 2nd FOCAC (Forum on China-Africa Cooperation) Summit and 6th Ministerial Conference were held on 4 to 5 December 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

  • Participants – 36 African leaders, five heads of governments and the Head of African Union Commission.
  • Theme – “Africa-China Progressing Together: Win-Win Cooperation for Common Development”
  • The summit was chaired by the President of China Xi Jinping and Co-chaired by the President of South Africa Jacob Zuma.

2nd China-Africa summit held in South AfricaChinese Support to Africa
Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a total of US$60bn in funding support to Africa. The support includes US$5b of grants in zero interest loans and US$35b in preferential facility and export credit loans and concessional loans.

  • Education Centres – Establishment of regional vocational education centers and several capacity-building colleges for Africa, train 200,000 technicians for African countries and provide the continent with 40,000 training opportunities in China.
  • Poverty Reduction – On poverty reduction China will launch 200 “Happy Life” projects and special programs focusing on women and children.
  • Cancelation of Debts – China has cancelled the outstanding debts borrowed by the relevant least developed African countries that mature at the end of 2015.
  • Agricultural Modernization – Agricultural development projects in 100 African villages to raise rural living standards and establish a “10+10” cooperation mechanism between Chinese and African agricultural research institutes.
  • Poor Harvest – Poor harvest caused by El Nino in many African countries and will provide one billion yuan (156 million dollars) of emergency food aid to the affected countries
  • Security cooperation – 60 mn US$ aid to the African Union (AU) to support the building and operation of the African Standby Force and the African Capacity for the Immediate Response to Crisis.
  • Drought aid – US$156m of emergency food aid to affected countries

About FOCAC
Established in 2000 to promote China-Africa friendship and cooperation, FOCAC groups China, 50 African countries that have established diplomatic ties with China, and the Commission of the African Union. Its last summit took place in 2006 in Beijing.

  • China is Africa’s largest trading partner and the trade volume between them amounted to $220 billion in 2014.