On January 8, Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the opening ceremony of the 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges. The symbolic year is being held to mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and African countries and is intended to strengthen mutual understanding and promote friendship between the two regions, according to the Chinese leadership.
In his message, Xi Jinping said that the organisation of the Year of People-to-People Exchanges is an important consensus agreed by the leaders of China and Africa. He said it was an important step to consolidate public support for China-Africa relations in the new historical period. He stressed that people-to-people exchanges and mutual learning of civilizations are the inexhaustible driving force for the progress of human civilization, world peace and development.
China and Africa, he said, share a long history of mutual enrichment that goes back thousands of years and forms the cultural and intellectual basis of the current partnership. It is this historical legacy that this year's initiative aims to build on and further develop.
The President urged both sides to use this year as an opportunity to strengthen traditional friendship, deepen mutual learning between civilizations and expand people-to-people contacts. He laid special emphasis on exchanges between young people and sharing experiences in governance and state management that can contribute to joint progress in the modernisation process.
According to Xi Jinping, these activities can lead to closer ties between the more than 2.8 billion people in China and Africa. The joint efforts are intended to help strengthen the solidarity of the global South in addressing global challenges, promote the common values of humanity and contribute to building a community with a shared future.
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