- Date of founding: FOCAC was formally established at the 2000 Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing in October 2000 under the joint initiative of China and Africa with the purposes of further strengthening friendly cooperation between China and African states under the new circumstances, jointly meeting the challenges of economic globalization and seeking common development.

- Objectives: Equal consultation, enhancing understanding, expanding consensus, strengthening friendship and promoting cooperation.

- Members: China, 50 African states that have established diplomatic relations with China and the Commision of the African Union. The 50 African states are Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Union of Comoros, Cote d' ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritoria, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Lybia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunis, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

- Consultation Mechanism: As prescribed in the Programme for China-Africa Cooperation in Economic and Social Development, China and Africa agree to set up the follow-up mechanisms to conduct regular evaluations on the implementation of the follow-up actions. In July 2001, an FOCAC ministerial consultation meeting was held in the Zambian capital of Lusaka at which the Procedures for Follow-up Mechanisms of FOCAC was deliberated and adopted.

The FOCAC dialogue and consultation mechanism is three-leveled: the Ministerial Conference held every three years, the Senior Official Follow-up Meeting and Senior Official Preparatory Meeting for the Ministerial Conference held respectively in the previous year and a few days before the Ministerial Conference; as well as meetings of African diplomats in China with the Chinese Follow-up Committee held at least twice a year. The Ministerial Conference and Senior Official Meeting are held in China and Africa alternately. China and the organizing African state of the meeting assume the joint chairs presiding over and taking lead in implementing the outcomes of the meeting. The Ministerial Conference is attended by the foreign minister and minister in charge of international economic cooperation and the Senior Official Meeting by director-general level officals of the competent departments.

The year 2006 marked the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of diplomatic relations between China and Africa. To celebrate the event, China and Africa decided to upgrade the Ministerial Conference of the Forum to a Beijing Summit and 3rd Ministerial Conference as a particular arrangement. The conference also decided to establish the regular political consultation mechanism between foreign ministers of the two sides, to be held during the United Nations General Assembly the year after each Ministerial Conference. The Chinese and African foreign ministers held two political consultations in New York on September 26, 2007 and September 23, 2010, respectively.

In addition, with the ever expanding and deepening China-Africa cooperation and under the FOCAC framework, there have been various sub-forums spanning the fields of agriculture, science and technology, law, finance, culture, think tanks, youth, NGOs, women, media and local governments, some having been regularized, further enriching the content of FOCAC.

(Source: FOCAC Official Website)