Johannesburg summit expected to enhance China-Africa cooperation: analysts

The upcoming Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) offers a great opportunity for China and African nations to elevate their relations to a new high, African experts have said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in South Africa. He will join African leaders for the summit due on Friday and Saturday.

Through the summit, China would offer solutions to challenges facing Africa, Douglas John, a researcher at the Midrand University in Johannesburg, told Xinhua.

The summit would see strengthened cooperation in five areas: industrialization, agricultural modernization, health, people-to-people exchanges and peace and security, he said.

It is the first time that the FOCAC summit is held on the African continent, drawing attentions from both sides and the international community.

Mike Danish, a lecturer with International Relations at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, said China's establishment of new financing mechanisms such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the BRICS New Development Bank was a "clear indication that China wants to assist in the reduction of poverty in Africa."

Through the FOCAC summit, China is expected to send a strong message to the entire world that China and Africa are working together for win-win cooperation and bringing in a new prospect of development for the peoples of both China and Africa, Danish said.

"The Summit is historic and will strengthen China-Africa unity and push China-Africa cooperation to a new height, thus writing a new chapter for China-Africa relations," he said.

Danish said China's support to Africa was focusing on two areas -- industrialization and agricultural modernization -- in order to alleviate poverty.

Despite the slowdown in its economy, China is expected to finance industrialization projects in African countries, according to Danish.

Industrialization is closely linked to infrastructure development and job creation, he added.

China, the world's second-biggest economy, was offering technical support for industrialization projects to African countries such as the construction of power plants, Danish said.

The FOCAC mechanism was important to Africa as it could bring about new deals that are vital to industrialization in Africa, according to the analyst.

South Africa will take advantage of hosting the summit by pushing for progress in existing areas of trade and cooperation between the two nations, and seeking new areas of cooperation, Danish said. Endit