CHINESE President Xi Jinping welcomed the leaders of 53 African nations to Beijing today for this year’s Forum on China-Africa Co-operation summit.

The three-day meeting will bring African leaders together with senior Chinese officials to deepen relations and to sign off on new co-operation agreements

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the summit was the “largest diplomatic event” the country had hosted in recent years with the highest number of foreign leaders, adding that it was a “grand reunion of the China-Africa big family.”

The ministry added: “China shall never waver in its determination to pursue greater solidarity and co-operation with Africa.” 

The summit has been held every three years since 2000 and the latest one is the ninth such meeting.

China’s highly successful Belt and Road Initiative, a massive infrastructure project to support the development of the global South, is the focal point of of this year’s talks, whose theme is Joining Hands to Advance Modernisation and Build a High-Level China-Africa Community with a Shared Future.

China has emerged as an unmatched economic partner for the global South, establishing what are referred to as “win-win” relationships.

In an early deal, Mr Xi witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on refurbishing the 1,156-mile Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) line with the two countries’ presidents, according to the Xinhua news agency.

The single-track railway was built between 1970 and 1975 through an interest-free loan from China, offering a freight transport route from Zambia’s copper and cobalt mines to the sea that bypassed the then white racist states of South Africa and Rhodesia.

Mr Xi has reportedly already held direct bilateral talks with the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Togo, Mali, Comoros, and Djibouti.

United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres is attending the summit as a special guest.