Africa has been described as a continent of hope and strength whose friendship with China has become unbreakable.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made this remark during the 4th Forum on China-Africa Local Government Cooperation which was held via a video link with the theme “Building a China-Africa Community with a Shared Future – Local Governments of China and Africa Work Together for Common Development.”
Premier Li during his speech said that China and Africa needed to expand and strengthen their pragmatic cooperation to create a better future for the 2.7 billion Chinese and African people.
In the online conference attended by about 300 political leaders from African countries and China, the Chinese Leader disclosed that China is willing to increase the aid of vaccines and anti-epidemic materials to Africa according to its needs to build a solid defense line for people’s health.
China’s willingness to further align with Africa’s development strategies, strengthening of exchange of experiences in urban governance, poverty eradication, social construction and agricultural modernization, and the promotion of cooperation was emphasized by Li.
He also added that China will work with Africa to safeguard the common interests of developing countries, maintain the friendly tradition of mutual respect, equality, unity, and cooperation, adhere to multilateralism, and support each other on issues concerning their respective core interests and major concerns.
While saying that there is much to be achieved through cooperation between the local governments of China and Africa, the raw materials imported by China is seen as a necessary tool that is helping to sustain the growth of the Chinese economy thus constituting a significant factor in its relations with Africa.
Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Qian Keming also reported that data on China-Africa economic cooperation shows that trade between the two has risen by 38.2 percentage points year on year to $185.2 billion in the January-September period.
The data report by Qian Keming indicates that China’s direct investment in Africa reached $2.59 billion in the first nine months, up 9.9 percentage points year-on-year with Chinese enterprises signing $53.5 billion worth contracts in Africa during the same period.
The data also shows that bilateral trade, despite the pandemic, reached $187 billion in 2020 with China importing $1.2 trillion worth of goods from Africa and exporting goods worth $1.27 trillion to Africa since 2000.
The 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation -FOCAC comes up in Senegal in late November where four documents, the Dakar Action Plan (2022-2024), the 2035 Vision for China-Africa Cooperation, the Sino-African Declaration on Climate Change, and the Declaration of the 8th Ministerial Conference are expected to be signed.
Additionally, the 7th China-Africa Business Conference will be held concurrently with the Forum where new agreements under the Digital Silk Road are announced.
At the China-Africa Business Conference, African countries intend to seek increased exports to China as well as secure debt relief and funding for the continent’s infrastructure.
