Full text: Declaration of the Beijing Summit Of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation

We, the Heads of State, Government and delegation of the People's Republic of China and 48 African countries, met in Beijing from 4 to 5 November 2006 for the Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

We applaud the Summit held on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of diplomatic relations between the People's Republic of China and the African countries.

For the purpose of promoting "friendship, peace, cooperation and development", we have reviewed the sincere friendship, solidarity and cooperation between China and Africa over the past half century, and had fruitful discussions on the common goals and direction for growing China-Africa cooperation in the new era.

Conscious of the fact that thanks to the concerted efforts of both sides, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation founded in 2000 has become an important platform for collective dialogue and an effective mechanism for pragmatic cooperation between the two sides, we have decided to enhance the role of the Forum and to this end, reaffirmed our commitment to the purposes and objectives set forth in the documents adopted by the Forum.

We hold that the world today is undergoing complex and profound changes, that human society is becoming increasingly interdependent, and that the pursuit of peace, development and cooperation has become the trend of the times and the priority of all countries.

We declare that the development of our friendly relations and cooperation are in accordance with the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence as well as all the international principles that promote multilateralism and democracy in international relations. We urge that diversity of the world should be respected and upheld, that all countries in the world, big or small, rich or poor, strong or weak, should respect each other, treat each other as equals and live in peace and amity with each other, and that different civilizations and modes of development should draw on each other's experience, promote each other and coexist in harmony.

Faced with the growing trend of economic globalization, we call for enhancing South-South cooperation and North-South dialogue and call on the World Trade Organization to resume the Doha Round of negotiations to promote balanced, coordinated and sustainable development of the global economy to enable all countries to share its benefits and realize common development and prosperity.

We call for reform of the United Nations and other multilateral international institutions to make them better meet the need of all members of the international community. Through reform, the United Nations should strengthen its role, give full scope to the function of the UN General Assembly and pay greater attention to the issue of development. Priority should be given to increasing the representation and full participation of African countries in the UN Security Council and other UN agencies.