With the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) scheduled for September 5 and 6 in Beijing, Algeria has begun lobbying Chinese officials for the inclusion of the Polisario Front. On Thursday, the Algerian Foreign Minister met with the Chinese ambassador in Algiers to discuss preparations for Algeria's participation in the high-level meeting. At the recent AU Executive Council session in Accra, Ghana, the Algerian Foreign Minister criticized the exclusion of the Polisario from international partnership summits between the African Union and global powers. He argued that this exclusion «undermines the credibility of our continental organization, especially as this network of partnerships has continued to expand without our input as member states». China, Russia, Turkey, South Korea, India, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Italy have all excluded the Polisario from their summits with the African Union.
