The 2018 Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will be held on Sept. 3 and 4, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang announced at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Monday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will chair the summit and hold some related events, according to Lu. 

Leaders of African member states of FOCAC are invited to attend the summit, and representatives of certain regional organizations in Africa and international organizations will take part in events on the sidelines of the summit, he added.

There are currently 55 members of FOCAC, including China, 53 African countries that have diplomatic relations with China, and the African Union Commission.

This year's FOCAC summit is themed "China and Africa: toward an even stronger community with a shared future through win-win cooperation." 

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in June that the two sides will work together to combine the theme with the joint construction of the Belt and Road between China and Africa, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations, the Agenda 2063 of the African Union as well as the development strategies of various African countries to make new planning for win-win cooperation and open up new prospects for common development.

Proposed by Xi in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes.

New measures for China-Africa all-round cooperation in the next stage will be unveiled at the summit, Wang said on the sidelines of the Formal Meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs in South Africa.

Founded in 2000, FOCAC serves as the key platform for the collective dialogue and cooperation between China and African countries. The previous FOCAC summit took place in the South African city Johannesburg in December 2015.