On May 25, 2009, Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo attended a reception held by African envoys in Beijing to mark the 46th anniversary of Africa Day. Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Wu Hongbo and other officials attended the reception.

In his speech, Dai extended warm congratulations to the African governments and people on Africa Day. He appreciated African countries for their achievements in safeguarding peace and stability, speeding up the process of integration and promoting economic growth. He also spoke highly of China-Africa relations, adding that since the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China and Africa have witnessed increasing political mutual trust and comprehensive development of cooperation in various fields. "The follow-up actions of the Beijing Summit are being implemented smoothly and implementation of the eight policy measures of the Chinese government for practical cooperation with Africa has yielded significant results," he said. China valued the traditional friendship with African countries, and appreciated their disinterested support on the Taiwan and Tibet-related issues and over the massive Sichuan earthquake, said Dai. China is ready to work with African countries to share development opportunities and make good preparations for the fourth Ministerial Conference of FOCAC in Egypt in the fourth quarter so as to advance the new type of China-Africa strategic partnership.

Angolan Ambassador to China and Acting Dean of the African Diplomatic Corps Joao Manuel Bernardo thanked China for its long-standing sincere help to Africa. He said China had all along respected and attached importance to Africa. China not only supported Africa's self-strengthening through closer unity, but also offered a vast amount of assistance to it, which contributed a lot to the economic and social development of Africa. The China-Africa cooperative partnership had become closer and yielded fruitful results since the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2000. The African countries were full of confidence for the future of Sino-African cooperation, he added.