President Kagame Joins Leaders for Opening Ceremony of China-Africa Summit

President Paul Kagame joined leaders from the continent and China on Thursday, September 5, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing for the opening ceremony of the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit.

President Paul Kagame arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, September 3.

On Wednesday, he joined other leaders at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing for a Welcome Banquet hosted by President Xi Jinping and First Lady Peng Liyuan of the People’s Republic of China.

The banquet was in honor of heads of state and government attending the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit.

The leaders of China and African countries gather around the theme “Joining Hands to Advance Modernization and Build a High-Level China-Africa Community with a Shared Future” to celebrate friendship and chart the way forward for cooperation.

This marks another grand reunion of the China-Africa big family following the 2006 Beijing summit, the 2015 Johannesburg summit, and the 2018 Beijing summit of the FOCAC. It is also the largest diplomatic event hosted by China in recent years, with the highest attendance of foreign leaders.

Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony of the 2024 summit on Sept. 5 and delivered a keynote speech, according to foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying.

In his speech, Xi elaborated on the new ideas and propositions on building a high-level community with a shared future between China and Africa, and announced new actions and measures for practical cooperation with Africa, said Vice Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong.

Established in 2000, the FOCAC summit has harnessed cooperation in economic and trade fields. China-Africa trade volume reached a record high of $282.1 billion in 2023, an increase of 11 percent from 2021, and China’s direct investment in Africa exceeded $40 billion.

Chinese companies signed project contracts worth more than $700 billion in Africa, with a turnover of over $400 billion, over the past decade.