[2]: 56  Along with the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF), FOCAC was one of the first regional organizations established by China outside its territorial periphery.

A number of North African states are dual members of both CASCF and FOCAC: Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan, and Tunisia.

[2]: 57 Each meeting results in a three-year action plan and Chinese pledges of loans, grants, and export credits.

Professor of International Securities Studies Dawn C. Murphy concludes that many African countries genuinely appreciate this moral stance by China against political conditions for foreign aid.

[2]: 83 At a 2022 FOCAC coordinators’ meeting, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced that China would forgive 23 interest-free loans that had matured at the end of 2021 for 17 African countries.

[3]: 54  China also expresses support for the African Union and for United Nations peacekeeping missions during FOCAC summits.

Through the 2003 FOCAC plan, China announced it would "grant zero-tariff treatment to some commodities of African LDCs [least developed countries] for access to the Chinese market.

The Chinese side will, starting from 2004, negotiate lists of tariff-free goods and the rules of origin with the countries concerned on a bilateral basis.

[2]: 184 The fourth Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC was held at Soho-Square, in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, on 8 to 9 November 2009.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and African heads of state or government from 49 countries attended the opening ceremony.

China also announced eight new policy measures aimed at strengthening relations with Africa that were "more focused on improving people's livelihoods".

He said China will construct 100 new clean-energy projects on the continent covering solar power, bio-gas, and small hydro-power and gradually lower customs duties on 95 percent of products from African states with which it has diplomatic ties.

[14] Discussions at the summit also highlighted the importance of climate change issues, poverty reduction, and exchanges between African and Chinese think tanks.

[3]: 54  During the 2012 summit, China announced the Initiative on China-Africa Partnership for Peace and Security, through which it provides financial and technical support to peacekeeping missions conducted by the African Union.

[2]: 83 The second FOCAC Summit and sixth Ministerial Conference was held on 4 to 5 December 2015, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

[3]: 54  FOCAC started to stress the Belt and Road Initiative beginning with this summit, the declaration of which committed China and African states to "actively explore the linkages between China's initiatives of building the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and Africa's economic integration and sustainable development agenda, and to seek opportunities to promote common development and realize our common dreams.

A total of 40 Presidents, 10 Prime Ministers, 1 vice-president and the Chairperson of the AU Commission were among the African dignitaries who participated in the Forum.

[25]: 132 Due the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 meeting was held online via videolink, with participants located in Dakar and Beijing.

[27] This time, Chinese and African leaders will discuss and cooperate around the theme of "Joining hands to promote modernization and build a high-level Chinese-African community of destiny".