Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi confirmed this week the triennial Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) conference that will take place later this year in Beijing will, in fact, be a leaders summit.

Before the FOCAC summit, Latin American and Caribbean leaders will take part in a similar gathering known as the China-CELAC forum. It’s rather unusual that both are taking place in the same year and that’s got some analysts suggesting representatives from African and Latin American countries would benefit a lot if they got together to compare notes on their deals with China.