Chinese and African scholars gathered in Beijing for discussion on fully implementing the follow-up actions of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. 

The Eighth Meeting of the China-Africa Think Tanks Forum, 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 in collaboration with the China-Africa Institute and the China Institute of International Studies, convened on 25-27 August 2019 at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. 

More than 400 representatives attended the forum, including diplomatic envoys from 45 African countries, government officials, think tank scholars, media representatives from 51 African countries, leaders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, renowned scholars from Chinese think tanks, and representatives from Chinese enterprises and media.

Held on the one-year anniversary of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), this significant conference focused on the theme of "Fully Implementing the Follow-Up Actions of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation," and discussed how to jointly build a closer community of a shared future between China and Africa. 

Jiang Guojun, the chair of Zhejiang Normal University, chaired the opening ceremony of the conference. 

During the ceremony, Chen Xiaodong, assistant minister of foreign affairs, Rahamtalla Mohamed Osman Elnor, African Union representative to China, Ruan Zongze, executive vice president of the China Institute of International Studies, Kimonyo Jean-Paul, advisor at the Office of the President of Rwanda, Han Hongmei, president of the China-Africa Fund for Industrial Cooperation, and Amadou Falilou Ndiaye, a professor at the University of Dakar of Senegal expressed their understanding on how to fully implement the follow-up actions of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

The China-Africa Think Tanks Forum was established by the Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University in 2011 and was officially incorporated into the framework of the FOCAC in 2012. 

It has become a fixed mechanism for China-Africa civil dialogue and an event for the institute to further develop African Studies with Chinese characteristics.  

As a "folk-oriented" and "government-participated" forum, it aims to "expand consensus" by "open dialogue." It holds meetings each year in China and Africa in rotation and invites representatives from government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and academic institutions from both sides. 

The forum has effectively improved communication and mutual understanding between China and Africa, and works as a platform for the Chinese and African academic institutions and think tanks to jointly implement China-Africa cooperation and for developing countries to share intellectual products and exchange developing experience and wisdom.