Addis Ababa, June 2, 2023 (FBC) – The twelfth China-Africa Think Tanks Forum has begun in the city of Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, as officials and experts gather to find ways to strengthen ties and overcome challenges under the official themes of rejuvenation and cooperation. CGTN’s Guan Yang has the details.
The city of Jinhua has long been at the center of cooperation between China and the continent of Africa. It’s home to companies that have built warehouses, industrial parks and e-commerce infrastructures in many African countries.
This week, nearly 200 scholars and business representatives from 45 countries have gathered in Jinhua to propose ideas for deepening ties.
GUAN YANG Jinhua, Zhejiang Province “For 12 consecutive years, the China-Africa Think Tanks Forum has helped policymakers in Africa to formulate and enact effective policies, by providing the governments in Africa with evidence-based recommendations. As for China, it has always supported African people in solving African issues in African ways.”
DARYL SWANEPOEL Chief Executive Inclusive Society Institute, South Africa “The business transactions are based on sound commercial considerations, it is not leading South Africa, nor Africa into the debt trap, as what was often accused. From a South African prospective, the assessments of the types of the Chinese investments, and the conditions attached to those investments are as sound as those of the west.”
Last year, China-Africa trade hit a record high of more than 280 billion U.S. dollars. According to data from Chinese customs, exports to Africa increased more than 11 percent year-on-year, while imports from the continent rose at a similar rate in the same period.
PIERRE GOMEZ Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, Republic of the Gambia “Like what China did many years ago by sending students outside to study and come back, then built the new China. My call today is for us to learn from that model, the Chinese model, for young African scholars to come to China, learn this and go back, and build the new Africa.”
China and African countries have together built and commissioned over 10,000 kilometres of railway, nearly 100,000 kilometres of highway, and key infrastructure across the continent ranging from airports and docks to bridges and power plants.
PROF. ZINE M. BARKA University of Tlemcen, Algeria “The very long high way, 1,200 km, linking east Algeria to the west Algeria, it is very useful, and it makes communications and travel among the Algerians very easy.”
Ethiopian scholar Dr Balew Demissie delivered a keynote speech at the second plenary session.
Founded in 2011, the China-Africa Think Tanks Forum has become a major platform for academic and other institutions to promote multilateral cooperation, as well as producing ideas for developing countries around the globe. GUAN YANG, CGTN.
CGTN