STORY: What to expect at upcoming China-Africa cooperation summit
SHOOTING TIME: Recent footage
DATELINE: Sept. 2, 2024
LENGTH: 0:01:43
LOCATION: Beijing, Nairobi
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Beijing
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): JAMES SHIKWATI, Kenyan economist
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): VERNON MWAANGA, Zambia's former envoy to UN

STORYLINE:

The 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will be held in Beijing from September 4 to 6.

The leaders of China and Africa will 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.

The upcoming summit is the largest diplomatic event hosted by China in recent years, with the highest attendance of foreign leaders.

Leaders of many African countries and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission will lead delegations to participate in the summit.

The UN Secretary-General will be a special guest and relevant international and regional organizations will also attend the summit as observers.

This year's summit will hold a welcoming banquet, opening ceremony, four high-level meetings on the topics of state governance, industrialization and agricultural modernization, peace and security, high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, as well as the eighth Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs and other related activities.

The summit will adopt two outcome documents -- the Declaration and the Action Plan -- to build major consensus between the two sides and chart a path for implementing high-quality China-Africa cooperation in the next three years.

Officials and experts from across Africa have extended great anticipation for the summit, hoping it will inject new impetus into the China-Africa cooperation.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): JAMES SHIKWATI, Kenyan economist
"My expectation, of course, would be to see a possibility of enlarging the already increasing South-South cooperation and looking at a possibility of how Africa can possibly be a major player in the Chinese market."

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): VERNON MWAANGA, Zambia's former envoy to UN
"This coming conference of FOCAC will certainly introduce new elements. They will review programs which have happened before, see if there are reasons why there should be some improvements made, and areas where new projects may be required. So, we expect that it is going to be a very fruitful discussion." 

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Beijing, Nairobi.
(XHTV)