‍‍The China-Africa relationship is often miscategorized as solely about trade and investment — yet, there’s no denying that an explosive growth in commerce has underpinned an increasingly strong bond.

The stats are impressive: China-Africa trade grew from 765 million US dollars in 1978 to 170 billion US dollars in 2017, and Chinese investment in African projects ranging from infrastructure to agriculture and manufacturing has totaled more than 100 billion US dollars over the past decade alone.

Helping to further accelerate China-Africa commerce is the Belt and Road Initiative, the plan proposed by President Xi Jinping five years ago to improve global trading connectivity through updating or creating trading routes through infrastructure investment.

At the 2018 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the Belt and Road is high on the agenda.

The initiative already involves more than 20 African countries and covers areas such as railways, highways, ports and power generation — creating thousands of local jobs in the process.

As Kwesi Quartey, deputy chairperson of the African Union, told CGTN Digital on Sunday, mutual support without interference is vital to shared success.  

“China supports Africa, unconditionally. Allowing Africa to solve African problems. Non-interference. But still focusing on key win-win matters, like trade, industrialization, education.”

Quartey was among senior ministers from 49 African nations and representatives of 20 international and regional organizations who joined Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at Diaoyutai Guesthouse in Beijing for a morning of discussions.

Together, they sought to make progress ahead of the first day of the summit proper, and it was clear that the sheer scale of the event had raised hopes for a successful meeting.

“We have very high expectations,” Tanzanian Foreign Minister Dr. Augustine Philip Mahiga told CGTN Digital. “The fact that the Chinese and the president and the government and the Party have invited the entire leadership of Africa is itself a great achievement.”

One of the expected outcomes at the FOCAC summit is progress in linking the Belt and Road Initiative with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the African Union’s Agenda 2063, and individual countries' development plans.

Harnessing the collective power of the different mechanisms could make a real difference to individual lives: creating jobs, wealth and new opportunities. And, experts say, more infrastructure projects may be announced over the coming days.

(Producer: Li Zhao, Videographer: Qi Jianqiang)