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The Eighth Meeting of the China-Africa Think Tanks Forum, was held from August 26 to 27 at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. The forum which offers a platform to brainstorm on having a shared future between Africa and China.
        The event was hosted by the Secretariat of the Chinese Follow-up Committee of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and organized by the Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University and the China-Africa Institute and China Institute of International Studies. Held on the first anniversary of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), this conference discussed how to jointly build a closer community of a shared future between China and Africa. More than 400 representatives attended the forum, including envoys from 45 African countries, government officials, think tank scholars, media representatives from 51 African countries, leaders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, renowned scholars from Chinese think tanks, and representatives from Chinese enterprises and media. The conference included an opening ceremony, a plenary session, two parallel panel dicussions and a closing ceremony. The parallel panel discussions focused on jointly building a closer community of shared future between China and Africa, aligning the Belt and Road Initiative with African Union Agenda and China-Africa think tanks and media cooperation and increasing the voices of China and Africa. Representatives from universities, think tanks and media in both China and Africa participated the parallel panel discussions. Based on the history of China-Africa cooperation and cooperation between developing countries and faced with the current international relations, the participants exchanged ideas and reached a consensus major issues. Some of the issues agreed on are: working together to build a closer China-Africa community with a shared future, steering the Belt and Road Initiative toward greater success, fully implementing the Eight Major Actions of China-Africa cooperation and summarizing successful experiences of China-Africa cooperation. Others are: developing an enhanced version of the China-Africa Joint Research and Exchange Plan, improving exchanges of experience in governance between China and Africa, and jointly increasing the voices of China and African countries on the international stage. African delegates also visited the People’s Daily and Beijing Urban Planning Exhibition Hall. The Forum received wide attention from dozens of important mainstream media from China and Africa. Journalists from more than 40 media outlets of 35 African countries attended and covered the conference.