On May 22, 2026, Vice Foreign Minister Miao Deyu attended and addressed the opening ceremony of the seminar on “Zero-Tariff: A New Pathway for the New Journey of the All-Weather China-Africa Community with a Shared Future for the New Era.”

Miao Deyu noted that the full implementation of zero-tariff treatment for all 53 African countries having diplomatic ties with China is a vivid manifestation of the principle of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith and the principle of pursuing the greater good and shared interests put forth by President Xi Jinping, opens a new pathway for China-Africa cooperation in the new era, injects new impetus into building the all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era, and provides much-needed stability to a turbulent world. Since the implementation of zero-tariff treatment, the positive effects have been steadily unleashed, opening a new window of opportunity for expanding China-Africa trade, especially African exports to China. The two sides need to move in the same direction to ensure that the benefits of zero-tariff and the development gains reach the people of both China and Africa, pursue systematic empowerment to upgrade China-Africa cooperation across the entire industrial chain and strengthen Africa’s internal drivers of development, and uphold universal benefit and inclusiveness for all to promote the prosperity of the Global South and jointly build a community with a shared future for humanity.

Ambassador of Kenya to China Willy Kipkorir Bett and African participants of the zero-tariff thematic seminar in China made remarks. They spoke highly of China’s leading role in building an open and inclusive world trading system, and expressed the belief that zero-tariff treatment will strongly boost Africa’s exports, investment and infrastructure development, and promote common development and prosperity for Africa and China.

The seminar was co-hosted by the Department of African Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Research Center on Building a Community with a Shared Future for Humanity. Around 200 government officials from China and African countries, African diplomatic envoys in China, experts and scholars attended the seminar.