On December 3 local time, the sixth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was held in Pretoria, South Africa. Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng of China, foreign ministers and ministers in charge of economic and trade affairs from 50 African member states of the FOCAC as well as high representatives of the African Union Commission (AUC) attended the conference.

Wang Yi, Gao Hucheng, as well as Minister for International Relations and Cooperation Nkoana Mashabane and Minister for Trade and Industry Rob Davies of South Africa co-chaired the conference.

Wang Yi said in his speech that the upcoming Johannesburg Summit of the FOCAC, as the second China-Africa summit following the 2006 Beijing Summit of the FOCAC as well as the first China-Africa summit held on the African continent, is bound to become a new milestone in the history of China-Africa relations. Centering on the theme of "China and Africa Progressing Together: Win-Win Cooperation for Common Development ", leaders of China and Africa will renew friendship, discuss further cooperation and seek common development. President Xi Jinping will, on behalf of the Chinese government, announce a series of major measures to advance China-Africa cooperation and support the development of Africa in the coming three years, showing China's firm determination and genuine willingness to be committed to developing friendly cooperation with Africa. China-Africa cooperation aims to support Africa's development with China's own development, so as to make the world more just, secure and inclusive, and let all developing countries including those in Africa share the rights to develop and prosper. With the concerted efforts of China and Africa, the summit is sure to be a historic event strengthening China-Africa solidarity and cooperation and leading the future development of the two sides.

Wang Yi expressed that this year marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the FOCAC. Over the past 15 years, as an important platform for China-Africa collective dialogue and an effective mechanism for China-Africa practical cooperation, the forum has been developing and expanding, and has become a flag of China-Africa solidarity and an example of South-South cooperation, constantly leading the trend of international cooperation with Africa. Currently, the alignment of development strategies between China and Africa is facing rare historic opportunities. We will take this summit as an opportunity to comprehensively retrospect the extraordinary 15-year course of the FOCAC and plan new thoughts, new paths and new approaches for the development of China-Africa relations, so as to improve quality and efficiency of China-Africa cooperation, develop it in a comprehensive way and push it to a new stage.

In her speech, Nkoana Mashabane said that China is a reliable partner of Africa and friendly cooperation between the two sides has stood the test of time. The FOCAC has gone beyond economic category, covering Africa's peace and security, human resources and other important fields. Africa is on the rise and expects China to offer more assistance in its industrialization, infrastructure construction, education, health care, talent training and other fields, so as to support Africa to meet challenges in development and realize the Agenda 2063. The Johannesburg Summit held on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the FOCAC will give strong impetus to Africa-China cooperation, advance bilateral partnership to a new height and jointly promote the two peoples' well-being. The two sides will usher in the golden era of Africa-China relations.

Wang Yi and Gao Hucheng reported at the conference the implementation of the follow-up actions of the fifth ministerial conference. Wang Yi pointed out that in the past 3 years since the fifth ministerial conference held in 2012, with the joint efforts of China and Africa, the follow-up actions mainly focusing on the 5 major key fields of investment and financing, assistance, African integration, non-governmental exchanges and African peace and security have been implemented steadfastly. All designed aims have been met in time or in advance. China-Africa strategic mutual trust continues to deepen and traditional friendship keeps strengthening. Fruitful results have been achieved in practical cooperation, bringing extensive benefits to the two peoples. People-to-people and cultural exchanges thrive and foundation for traditional friendship has been consolidated. Cooperation in peace and security has achieved steady progress with expanding cooperation fields. FOCAC mechanism has been improved constantly and the leading role of the FOCAC is more prominent. Gao Hucheng expressed that in the past 15 years since the FOCAC was established, China's economic and trade measures towards Africa have benefited all the countries across the continent. Bilateral practical cooperation has also witnessed a rapid growth in scale and a continuous expansion in fields. China is proactively promoting construction of the "Belt and Road" and conducting cooperation in international production capacity and equipment manufacturing, which highly coincides with African countries' strategies of industrialization and integration. The two sides should enhance docking of development strategies, give full play to each other's advantages and continuously elevate the level of practical cooperation under the principle of "co-consultation, co-contribution and sharing", so as to boost common development of the two sides.

African representatives present at the conference expressed their opinions one after another, giving positive comments on the implementation achievements of the follow-up actions, and highly appreciating China's significant contributions to promoting Africa-China cooperation. They extended gratitude to China for its strong support to Africa's peace and development, noted that Africa is very lucky to have such a cooperative partner as China, indicated that the bilateral cooperation is featured with equality, mutual benefits and win-win results, and expressed expectations to further enhance cooperation with China in various fields.

The conference deliberated and passed the FOCAC Johannesburg Summit Agenda, and the draft of the Declaration of the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Johannesburg Action Plan (2016-2018) between China and Africa.