On March 18, Minister Zhang Wei, Deputy Head of the Mission of China to the African Union, met with Abdeta Beyene, Executive Director of the Centre for Dialogue, Research and Cooperation (CDRC) .

Minister Zhang briefed Director Beyene on the significance and key highlights of this year's "Two Sessions", noting that the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) adopted outlines China's development blueprint for the next five years. He emphasized that China will further deepen reform across the board, accelerate the establishment of a unified domestic market and continue to expand high-standard opening up, sharing opportunities and pursuing common development with countries around the world. China will continue to open its market to Africa through measures such as zero-tariff treatment, promoting the upgrading and high-quality development of China-Africa cooperation.

Director Beyene highly commended China's policy of granting zero-tariff treatment to all African countries with which it has diplomatic relations, noting that this initiative will inject new momentum into the common development of the Global South including Africa. He expressed willingness to take the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges as an opportunity to further deepen cooperation with the Mission, strengthen exchanges on governance experience between China and Africa, and continuously promote closer people-to-people ties between the two sides.