(Seychelles News Agency) - The President of Seychelles, Danny Faure, will be attending the 2018 Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) from September 3-4, State House said on Wednesday.

Faure is attending the summit at the invitation of the President of China, Xi Jinping.

The summit is being held under the theme ‘China and Africa: toward an even stronger community with a shared future through win-win cooperation.’ 

According to the China Daily, the summit “will kick-start a new journey for China-Africa relations.”

China Daily added that “at the upcoming summit, the two sides are expected to further align the summit’s theme with the Belt and Road Initiative, the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the development strategies of individual African countries."

At the 5th China-Africa People’s Forum in July in Chengdu, the Vice President of Seychelles, Vincent Meriton, announced that the island nation hopes to sign a memorandum of understanding on Belt and Road initiative cooperation. The signing is expected to bring new opportunities for China-Seychelles relations.

The Forum on China-Africa Co-operation was set up in 2000 by China and African countries as a platform for collective consultation and dialogue and a cooperation mechanism between the developing countries, which falls into the category of South-South cooperation.

The Forum’s purpose is to strengthen consultation and expand cooperation and its focus is on cooperation. It promotes both political dialogue and economic cooperation and trade, with a view to seeking mutual reinforcement and common development.

Prior to the start of the summit, President Faure will be meeting President Xi Jinping and other high-level officials in the Chinese government.

Faure will leave the country on Friday and will be back in the office on September 6, 2018.