in Liqun, president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, delivers a speech on Thursday in Beijing at the fourth session of Vision China, a series of talks hosted by China Daily. (ZOU HONG/CHINA DAILY)
China and Africa, which concluded a historic summit on Tuesday, are developing a "new form of multilateralism" to build their shared future, said a renowned European scholar on Thursday in Beijing.
David Gosset, founder of the Europe-China Forum, made the remarks at the fourth Vision China event, themed "China & Africa: Growing Together", at Beijing Language and Culture University.
"I'm a European from Paris, and I learned that China and Africa have had a historic event by inventing a new form of multilateralism, which is the right answer to unilateralism and de-globalization," he said.
Gosset said negative trends in the United States and Europe are "worrisome".
The 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation featured eight major initiatives for China-Africa cooperation, with President Xi Jinping appealing for a closer China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era.
The Vision China event, hosted by China Daily, sparked in-depth discussions on how to better implement the summit outcomes and consensus reached by Chinese and African leaders, boost China-Africa friendly exchanges, enhance comprehensive cooperation and construct a community with a shared future.
Gosset joined fellow speakers Jin Liqun, president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank; Hodan Osman Abdi, adviser to the president of Somalia and executive director of the Center for East African studies at Zhejiang Normal University; and Zahra R. Baitie, China director of Development Reimagined and founder of Beijing Africa Week.
Guo Weimin, vice-minister of the State Council Information Office; Zhou Shuchun, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily; Du Feijin, head of the publicity department of the Communist Party of China Beijing Municipal Committee; Wei Gang, director of strategic planning at Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co; and Ni Haidong, Party chief of Beijing Language and Culture University, also attended the event together with an audience of around 1,000 people.
The importance and meaning of the two-day Beijing summit was emphasized by almost all guests and speakers.
While addressing the event, Guo Weimin, vice-minister of the State Council Information Office, said the success of the Beijing Summit opened a new chapter in the construction of the China-Africa community with a shared future, adding that Xi's important speech received extended applause from African countries and the international community.
Guided by the summit outcomes, China and Africa will enjoy deeper mutual trust, wider cooperation, and tighter bonds of friendship, he said.
As China continues to open up to the outside world and further promote the Belt and Road Initiative, it will firmly safeguard the open world economy and multilateral trading system, and will oppose trade protectionism and unilateralism, creating more opportunities for nations in Africa and worldwide, he added.
Du Feijin said in his address that Xi's speech at the Beijing Summit clearly showed the direction for building a closer China-Africa community with a shared future, which also draws a new blueprint for China-Africa cooperation.
Du said Beijing has fully integrated the city's advantageous resources, actively implemented the BRI and made a unique contribution to the development of China-Africa relations by deeply and actively participating in China-Africa cooperation.
