On November 5, 2021, the First China-Africa BDS Cooperation Forum was held in Beijing online and offline. Assistant Foreign Minister Wu Jianghao delivers a speech at the opening ceremony via video link. More than 600 representatives from China and nearly 50 African countries, as well as relevant departments of the African Union (AU) Commission, universities, enterprises and associations attended the meeting.

Wu Jianghao said in his speech that BDS cooperation, an important part of China-Africa digital cooperation, helps with information-enabled economic and social development and promotes the integrative development of digital technology and real economy. The China-Africa BDS Cooperation Forum is a significant outcome and a new symbol of the transformation and upgrading of practical cooperation between China and Africa. It will build an open and inclusive cooperation platform for China-Africa BDS cooperation, so that more African friends will feel and understand BDS. What's more, it will also allow relevant Chinese institutions and enterprises to increase understanding of the development potential of satellite navigation in Africa, promote more active exchanges and cooperation between the two sides, and turn BDS cooperation into a new engine for quality improvement and upgrading of China-Africa cooperation.

Wu Jianghao stressed that under the current situation, it is all the more necessary than ever for China and Africa to embrace the vision of living in a community with a shared future, strengthen solidarity and promote cooperation. The Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will be held in Senegal soon. China and Africa will further build consensus, raise China-Africa cooperation to a new level and take the path of sustainable development with a focus on such key areas as health, production capacity cooperation, infrastructure, trade and investment, digital economy, green development, peace and security, and capacity building. China is willing to work with African members of FOCAC to step up preparations for the conference and inject new impetus into the development of China-Africa relations.

The China-Africa BDS Cooperation Forum is a newly established sub-forum within the framework of FOCAC. With the theme of "Innovation, Cooperation, Openness and Sharing", the forum was jointly organized by the China Satellite Navigation System Administration Office, the China National Space Administration, the Secretariat of the Chinese FOCAC Follow-up Committee, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Telecommunications of Senegal, and the Department of AU Commission for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation.