On May 24, 2018, Assistant Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong attended “My African Story” Online Competition Award Ceremony and the Exhibition of Excellent Works held in Beijing Language and Culture University, and delivered a speech. More than 200 people attended the activities, including head of the delegation of diplomatic envoys of African countries to China and Madagascan Ambassador to China Victor Sikonina and other African Ambassadors to China, relevant principals of Department of African Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, China Radio International, Beijing Language and Culture University, Peacekeeping Affairs Office of the Ministry of National Defense of China, Department of International Cooperation of National Health Commission of China and Hanban, journalists of China-Africa Press Center of China International Press Communication Center, as well as teachers and students of Beijing Language and Culture University.

Chen Xiaodong said that China and Africa are always a community with a shared future. In recent years, under the joint efforts of both sides, China-Africa relations have continuously maintained a strong development momentum, and cooperation in various fields has been deeply boosted, starting a new journey of win-win cooperation and common development of China and Africa. As people-to-people and cultural exchanges are the inexhaustible sources of China-Africa friendship, many works collected in this competition directly embody and vividly epitomize the constant booming bilateral people-to-people and cultural exchanges. The stories in these works are so moving that they gather the great strength to the constant development of China-Africa friendly cooperation, and they make us confident about the future of China-Africa relations. This year is crucial for China-Africa relations as the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will be held in September. The Chinese side will work with the African side to well make preparations, and strive to host the Summit as a historic event which will strengthen unity and cooperation between China and Africa.

Ambassador Victor Sikonina said that many works collected in this competition show the sincere feelings between the African people and the Chinese people and also demonstrate that both the African people and the Chinese people are eagerly looking forward to the FOCAC Beijing Summit. It is believed that under the joint efforts of both sides, this Summit will surely achieve a complete success, bringing new opportunities for Africa-China cooperation and the development of Africa.

Representatives of the event sponsors, judges and prize winners addressed or delivered acceptance speeches respectively. A wonderful video of the excellent works was played at the ceremony. Chinese students and overseas students from Africa performed the singing, dancing, folk music and other shows together.