CHANGSHA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of China, 53 African countries and the African Union Commission gathered in Changsha on Wednesday to advance the full implementation of the outcomes achieved at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

At the opening ceremony of the Ministerial Meeting of Coordinators on the Implementation of the Follow-up Actions of the FOCAC, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his counterpart of the Republic of the Congo Jean-Claude Gakosso read out the congratulatory letters from their heads of state. The Republic of the Congo is the African co-chair of the FOCAC.

Chinese President Xi Jinping expounded in the letter the significance of China-Africa solidarity and cooperation and announced important measures for further opening up and cooperation with Africa, which Wang said provide important guidance for both sides as they seek to jointly promote modernization and build an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.

The FOCAC has grown rapidly in the 25 years since its establishment, leading China-Africa relations to achieve leapfrog development and enter the best period in history. Both sides have made solid progress in the implementation of the 10 partnership actions for modernization announced at the FOCAC Beijing Summit held last September, according to Wang.

China and Africa, as the largest developing country and the continent with the highest concentration of developing countries, are emerging as pivotal forces of the Global South, Wang said.

"Faced with an international situation marked by changes and turmoil, China and Africa should uphold solidarity and self-reliance more than ever," he said, calling on both sides to respond to uncertainties in the world with a stable and resilient China-Africa relationship.

Both sides should preserve solidarity of the Global South, champion international free trade, support global development cooperation, defend a just international order and promote civilizational diversity, he said.

Wang said the 21st century is as much Asia's century as it is Africa's, adding that as long as the more than 2.8 billion people of China and Africa work together, they will surely achieve brilliant progress in the path to modernization.

On behalf of the African countries, Gakosso said African countries thank China for supporting their development, welcome the 10 partnership actions for modernization, and support the China-Africa Cooperation Vision 2035. He added that the African countries are willing to implement the outcomes of the Beijing Summit to help the African people realize their aspiration for a better life.

The African side opposes the act of abusing tariffs and unilateral sanctions and will stand with China to jointly deal with challenges, Gakosso said.

The meeting issued China-Africa Changsha Declaration On Upholding Solidarity and Cooperation of the Global South.■