This year, the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will be held in China. Recently, Ambassador John Kayode Shinkaiye, Chief of Staff, Bureau of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), shared his thoughts with ChinAfrica reporter Liu Wei on the role that FOCAC has played in strengthening Sino-African relations, at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His thoughts are as follows:

ChinAfrica: Since the founding of FOCAC, especially the Beijing Summit in 2006, the Sino-African cooperation relationship has deepened. What is your comment on the bilateral cooperation achievements?

John Kayode Shinkaiye: Africa has engaged with China since the summit in Beijing in 2006. As you know, there was another ministerial meeting that followed and took place in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt in 2009. It was a very successful meeting and the declaration announced many important programs that China will do in Africa.

Earlier in 2011, we had the senior officials' meeting that took place in Hangzhou, and we came to the conclusion that there has been regular consultation between China and the African Union through the AUC. In fact, we have a process of regular consultation between the AU chairperson and the Chinese foreign minister at least once a year.

The AUC has been admitted as a member of FOCAC. It was previously an observer in the FOCAC process, but is now a full member and will be participating in FOCAC activities, working with member states in the continent.

As a new member of FOCAC, what role will the AU play?

The role expected to play is that rather than being just an observer in the process, the AUC will be participating in all of the activities of FOCAC. We will make contributions to the development of programs and the implementations that come out of the forum. We will be able to work with the African countries, particularly the African ambassadors who are resident in Beijing and who have been working with China to follow up the implementation of FOCAC decisions. Part of the role of the commission is to coordinate the activities of African countries with respect to their partnerships, and we expect to work with African nations in Beijing to work together for implementation in FOCAC.

The construction of the Conference Center of the AU will be completed soon in Addis Ababa with Chinese design and construction teams. What do you think of this project?

Not only have I visited the new building, but I have the pleasure of being the chair of an ad-hoc committee within the commission that is working with the Chinese authorities who were working on the construction of the beautiful building. My colleague is the coordinator  of the project as a whole, and from the beginning of the construction, he and I have been involved, seeing it start from its foundation to where it is today. We are very proud of the work of the Chinese company and very grateful to the Chinese Government.

We say that it is another major milestone in the relationship between China and Africa, because it is the single biggest project that China has done as a grant in Africa, and therefore we are very happy that we have worked with China. I think that we worked with China every step of the way in the construction, from the beginning to the end. China will continue to work with us to ensure we make the building functional and useful for the purpose that it was built.

The last 10 years has witnessed increasing Sino-African cultural exchanges. How have cultural exchanges promoted Sino-African relations? 

I believe that culture can [play], and is in fact playing, a very important role in developing a relationship between China and Africa. The level of cooperation between China and Africa is not only at the level of government. We want to see the relationship taken to the level of the people in China and Africa. I think that it will contribute a great deal to strengthening and deepening the relationship between Africa and China.

I know that in the Sharm declaration, we have a section on culture and people-to-people cooperation, which shows that Africa has attached a great deal of importance to cultural relations between China and Africa, as it deepens the relationship between them.