The 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) opened on Sunday in Senegal’s capital, Dakar with trade and security being the main topics on the agenda.

Senegal’s Foreign Minister Aissata Tall Sall told the opening session that China’s help toward bringing peace to the Sahel region is welcome.

“We would like China’s influence to be a strong voice in support of Senegal and all the countries involved in the problem of insecurity in the Sahel, so that our forces there have even more legal means to fight against terrorists and irredentism, and we hope that China will accompany us”, said Sall.

China is Africa’s largest trading partner. This has been the case for the last 12 years in a row. Direct exchanges reached 200 billion dollars in 2019. Last year, trade between the two reached $187 billion.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi noted that the FOCAC has become a flagship for a win-win cooperation among developing countries and a model of South-South cooperation.

He added China will resolutely meet its commitment that its votes at the United Nations will always belong to developing countries and will stand strongly with African partners to jointly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the developing world. 

The summit ends on Tuesday.