Ai Ping, Vice Minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, elaborated on the event and spoke of his expectations with ChinAfrica

Ai Ping: Exchanges between youths have always been the most vibrant part of China-Africa relationship. In recent years, especially in the 10 years since the launch of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), China and Africa have been committed to building a new strategic partnership characterized by political equality and mutual trust, economic win-win cooperation and cultural exchanges and mutual learning, and achieved obvious results. Meanwhile, exchanges between Chinese and African youths have also expanded vigorously. The lively and colorful activities proposed by Chinese leaders such as China-Africa Youth Festival are well received by Chinese and African youths.

As China-Africa cooperation continues to deepen, Chinese and African young leaders wish to further expand their exchanges, contribute to the strengthening of China-Africa new strategic partnership, and seek more benefits and greater personal development from China-Africa cooperation. Hence, in 2009, some African youths from such countries as Namibia suggested, while they were in China for the China-Africa Youth Festival, that a platform for regular exchanges between Chinese and African youths should be set up.

As the proposal focuses on the long-term development of China-Africa relationship, China attaches great importance to it. After several consultations, China and Namibia reached a consensus. The two sides decided that the first forum is to be held in Namibia's capital Windhoek this May, and it will be hosted jointly by the CPC and the SWAPO Party, while specific arrangements for the forum will be made by the International Department of the CPC Central Committee and SWAPO's Youth League.

What does the forum hope to achieve?

Youths are not only interested in the current status of China-Africa friendship, but also the future. Today, there are altogether 1 billion young people in China and Africa. They are active in building their respective countries, and in pushing forward China-Africa relationship. Expanding exchanges, enhancing understanding, mutual friendship and working together are the common aspirations of Chinese and African young people, and are necessary for the sustainable development of the China-Africa relationship.

Succeeding generations of Chinese leaders all highly value the exchanges between Chinese and African youths. Chinese President Hu Jintao invited 500 African youths to China for exchanges with Chinese youths. At the suggestion of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, three China-Africa Youth Festivals have been held, respectively in 2004, 2006 and 2009. Although the achievements are impressive, the level of exchanges is still not compatible with the overall level of China-Africa cooperation. Both sides say that it is necessary to build a regular platform for exchanges between young people under the framework of FOCAC.

This forum is to be jointly hosted by the ruling parties of China and Namibia. Ruling parties make policies and set up development direction in their respective countries, so they have a unique edge in guiding and organizing youths to promote the China-Africa relationship. Young leaders set examples for youths to follow, and can facilitate and guide exchanges between youths. A regular exchange platform for young leaders will spur Chinese and African youths to promote China-Africa friendship more actively.

This forum is the first of its kind on youth exchanges. It will provide an effective platform and institutional assurance for Chinese and African young people to expand exchanges and actively participate in China-Africa cooperation. It will become a stage and a banner guiding exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and African young people. It will be successful.

Can you talk about the forum's theme, major topics for discussion, activities to be held and forum participants?

The forum's theme is "Friendship, Cooperation, Development." A number of activities will be held during the forum, such as tree planting, meetings between young Chinese and African entrepreneurs and joint performances staged by Chinese and Namibian artists.

As this is the first such forum, it is a test run. This forum is limited in scale, so only representatives from some African countries have been invited. China and Namibia have agreed to invite 60 representatives from 17 African countries, such as Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

What are your expectations for the youth representatives to this forum?

During the forum, Chinese and African youth representatives will engage in in-depth discussions on the development of Chinese and African youths, youth and China-Africa cooperation, and the institutionalization of the forum.

At the end of the forum, a Windhoek Declaration on Africa-China Young Leaders Forum will be released. Consensuses reached at the forum will be the main content of the declaration.

For the young leaders participating in the forum, I wish that first, they will actively talk to each other, understand each other better, become trusting good friends, and put forward suggestions on how to improve the forum in the future. Second, they should realize that transmitting and deepening the traditional China-Africa friendship is a historical and common mission. Third, they will be down-to-earth and do more practical things for the development of their countries and China-Africa relationship, and make bigger personal progress in the process.

How is this forum related to FOCAC? Will it continue into the future?

FOCAC is an effective mechanism for collective dialogue and multilateral cooperation, and is an important framework for long-term stable, equal and mutually beneficial contact and partnership between China and Africa. While preparing for the Africa-China Young Leaders Forum, the two sides agreed that they wish to incorporate the forum into FOCAC, rotate the forum between China and African countries regularly and make up the missing youth component in FOCAC.