China’s President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, pose with leaders from African countries before a welcome dinner of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Sept. 4, 2024.

China’s President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, pose with leaders from African countries before a welcome dinner of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Sept. 4, 2024.

Indonesia hosted a gathering of African leaders in Bali this week in a bid to grow economic and trade ties. But many African countries were not represented, with leaders opting to attend a separate forum in China.

The Indonesia-Africa Forum was seen as an opportunity for Southeast Asia’s largest country to boost trade ties with Africa and seek out new export markets, but the three-day forum struggled to attract a large showing of African countries.

Even so, the Indonesian forum wasn’t a wasted effort, with important discussions and outcomes, said Christophe Dorigne-Thomson, a foreign affairs academic based in Jakarta.

“But symbolically, for sure, the choice was made for China,” he said.

Delegates from 29 nations made their way to the resort island of Bali for the summit, well short of the 47 African countries that were represented at the inaugural forum in 2018.

Despite the smaller turnout, Indonesia hopes to have sealed $3.5 billion in business deals from the summit. That would be nearly six times the amount generated in agreements during the first forum six years ago.