On July 13, 2018, the 7th Congress of Chinese Society for Asian and African Studies and the Symposium on Asian-African Situations was held at the Arabic Institute of Beijing Foreign Studies University. There were over 100 member representatives from more than 50 universities and institutions attending the conference.

The Conference was divided into four parts, which were "The Situation in Africa and China-Africa Relations", The Seventh Congress and General Election of the Chinese Society for Asian and African Studies, the Symposium on the Situation in Africa in the Middle East and Its Relationship with China and the announcement of the election results and the speech of the Chairman of the new Council.

In the first part, Mr. Xiao Han, Deputy Director of the Africa Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gave a keynote speech on "The Situation in Africa and China-Africa Relations". Mr. Xiao summarized the current situation in Africa from three aspects, which are politics, economy and interaction with the external world. He indicated that in terms of politics, the current situation in Africa was generally stable, but some parts of Africa are unrest. Especially recent attention should be focused on developments in the Great Lakes region and relationship should be improved between Ethiopia and Eritrea. When it comes to economy, the African economies are in an upward trend generally, but it has been still influence by commodity price volatility; the process of African integration has been accelerated once again led by countries such as Rwanda and Chad, but it still requires the support from large countries like South Africa. In terms of interaction with external world, when Mr. Trump became president of USA, he hardly ever focused on Africa, and Europe did not do either. But Japan and India enhanced cooperation with Africa and their influence have been growing. As for the development of China-Africa relations, Mr. Xiao believed that it is in the best period in history in terms of politics and is expanding pragmatic cooperation in economy. In conclusion, Mr. Xiao expressed that the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, with topic of “cooperation and joint efforts to build a closer community of destiny between China and Africa", received a positive response from African countries. He believed there will be sufficient achievements.

In the second part, participants listened to the "Report on the Work of the Sixth Council" by Liu Guijin, President of the Sixth Council, and elected members of Council, Vice-President and Secretary-General at the seventh session. In his report, Mr. Liu indicated that the Sixth Council was established in 2012 and has completed five main fields of work in the past six years. The first is it has promoted the transformation and development of the Society, achieved the civilianization of the leading group of the Society, more academic and professional and more youths in members of researching field. The second is to follow closely the hotspots of Asian and African studies and insist to the principle of "less but better". There have been some important events held, such as Seminars on Asia-Africa Cooperation in the New International Context, Fifty Years of OAU/AU Cooperation with Asia-Africa Cooperation, The Belt and Road Strategy and the 60th Anniversary Symposium on Asia-Africa Cooperation in the New Era and Chinese Interests in Africa, which have been caught the key points and hot issues of Asian-African studies to receive wonderful results. Thirdly, it is necessary to create academic brands. We should invite a person, who is Director-General of the Africa Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, to hold a seminar about situation in Africa and China-Africa relations and meeting of The African Ambassadors to China and the former Chinese Ambassadors to Africa held several, which played significant role in relationship between China and Africa. The fourth is that is has strengthened cooperation with other research institutions and academic groups; Fifth, it has strengthened the management and system construction by establishing the Party Branch, establishing the system of accounts for the activities of the Society, setting up a spokesman for the Society, perfecting the working mechanism of the Secretariat, and completing the examination of the successive competent units and the annual inspection of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Participants at the meeting reviewed President Liu Guijin's report and adopted it with warm applause.

After Mr. Zhan Shiming, Secretary-General, made an account of the list of candidates for the general election of the Institute and explanation of methods to election, the meeting moved to the election stage. Under the auspices of the host, the representatives of participating members have begun to vote for the candidate directors, candidate presidents, vice-presidents and the Secretary-General. After voting, the staff began to count the ballots.

In the third part, Mr. Tang Zhichao, Director, Middle East Research Office, China Academy of Social Sciences; Li Wentao, Deputy Director, African Institute, China Institute of Modern International Relations, Mr. Ma Xiaolin, Professor, Arab Institute, Beijing Foreign Studies University and Mr. Hao Rui, General Manager, Research Development Department, have made academic reports respectively, which were "An Analysis of the Current Political and Security Situation in the Middle East", "New Trends in African Political Development, New Issues and Implications for China-Africa Relations", "China's Middle East Diplomacy in the Context of Great Powers' Competition" and "Sino-African Investment Cooperation in the Context.