Honorable Mr. Apollos Nwafor, Pan Africa Director of Oxfam International,
Mr. Barry van Wyk, Coordinator of Africa-China Reporting Project,
Dear Colleagues, Media Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning!
It gives me great pleasure to join you in today’s Media Workshop on Reporting Africa-China Engagements: Agriculture Developments, Climate Change, Industrialization, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2063. At the outset, on behalf of the Chinese Mission to the African Union, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my warm congratulations to the opening of this workshop and wish it a great success. My gratitude also goes to OXFAM and Wits University for the launching of this meaningful event.
As I am told, you have visited the Eastern Industrial Park and the light railway in Addis Ababa yesterday, these are projects reflecting the achievements of China-Africa cooperation in the past few years. What you have seen and heard is only the tip of the iceberg of China-Africa engagements. To that end, I would like to share with you the latest development of our multifaceted relations and my own thoughts on the future of our cooperation.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
China enjoys traditional friendship with African countries on the basis of equality, mutual support and mutual benefit. Throughout the times of national liberation, independence and development, we have been close friends and reliable partners. Today, China has become Africa's largest trading partner, main investor and engineering contractor. China-Africa cooperation faces new historic opportunities.
Since 2013, China has initiated new concepts for China-Africa cooperation, which is outlined by the principles of sincerity, practical results, affinity and good faith as well as the values of friendship, justice and shared interests. China is firmly committed to promoting the cooperation with the continent through common, intensive, green, secure and open development and supporting Africa’s efforts to address the main bottlenecks, namely lack of quality infrastructure, professional and skilled personnel and financial resources. China is ready to help Africa resolve three fundamental issues of employment, food and health by developing self-sustainable system of industrialization, food security, and disease prevention and control system.
I would like to recall that, during the FOCAC Johannesburg Summit in December 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced in his speech a supporting financial package of $60 billion to implement Ten Major Cooperation Plans that mainly focus on accelerating Africa's industrialization and agricultural modernization. Thanks to the concerted efforts from China and African countries, new breakthroughs have been made in China-Africa cooperation. Since the FOCAC Summit, more than 600 projects have been either completed, underway or signed to be implemented. These projects together amount to over $108 billion. They could directly create 209,000 jobs, and could contribute $1.15 billion of tax revenue for African countries. The China-Africa Fund for Production Capacity Cooperation is now running with an initial contribution of $10 billion. Besides, China has provided vocational training opportunities to over 100,000 African people and offered nearly 20,000 government scholarships for African countries. We have completed a number of mega projects including the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway, the Nairobi-Mombasa Railway in Kenya, and the Abuja-Kaduna Rail in Nigeria. Rapid progress has been made in production capacity cooperation in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and the Republic of Congo as pilot and pioneering countries and a dozen of priority partners for production capacity cooperation. The construction of special economic zones and industrial parks in Ethiopia, Zambia, Uganda, Republic of Congo and Egypt has also achieved encouraging results, which creates a large number of jobs for local community.
Today, we are very proud to say that China and Africa have entered a new era of win-win cooperation for common development. Africa enjoys unique advantages of natural resources, human capital and vast market, while China has the comparative advantages in capital, technology, equipment, skilful personnel and successful development experiences and production capacity. China-Africa cooperation is now entering a new stage of transformation and upgrade, which is shifting from government-led assistance to market-driven trade and enterprise investment, from general merchandise trade to production capacity cooperation and processing trade, from project contracting to investment, construction and operation. China is deeply convinced that, China-Africa cooperation will deliver more tangible benefits to both sides, by exploiting and enhancing synergy between China-Africa cooperation plans, China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the Agenda 2063 .
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The 9th BRICS Summit was concluded successfully yesterday in China’s coastal city of Xiamen. Focusing on the theme of "BRICS: Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future", the five members including South Africa have jointly mapped out an ambitious blueprint for another Golden Decade of BRICS cooperation. Presidents of Egypt and Guinea were also invited to this important event. With the spirit featuring openness, inclusiveness, cooperation and win-win results, China and Africa will have more platform to complement each other’s development strengths in its cooperation, and make greater contribution to world peace, stability, development, and prosperity.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Media plays a critical role in fostering and deepening the friendship and cooperation between China and Africa. Despite the great achievements, China-Africa relation is receiving a mixed reaction from the media, in particular those stationed outside China and Africa. There remains misunderstanding and biased and negative reports. Some tend to cast China and its engagement in Africa in a negative way, including labeling the so-called “Chinese threat” or “neocolonialism”. It is unfortunate that they turn a blind eye to the contribution China has made towards peace, stability and prosperity in Africa. To improve Chinese and African reporting, we should strengthen cooperation and communication between media of both sides. We need to do more to share the true story of China-Africa cooperation with African people and the rest of the world.
Here, I would like to share with you the example of the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway, which came into operation at the end of May this year. According to the latest statistics, this project has so far created 46,000 local jobs and will increase the GDP of Kenya by 1.5%. Besides, during the construction period, the Chinese side has trained 45,000 local staff and implemented more than 220 social projects benefiting 13,000 people. There is no doubt to indicate that the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway will continue to enhance the east African socio-economic development, promote the regional integration and accelerate the industrialization process. I would like to encourage media friends to spare no effort in enhancing mutual understanding between China and Africa, and showing real pictures of China-Africa cooperation. Your insightful and objective observations will help promote friendship and win-win cooperation between China and Africa.
To conclude, I expect you have an in-depth and fruitful discussion on China-Africa partnership. The Chinese Mission counts on your professionalism and objectiveness. We are ready to work together with you to deliver the successful stories of China-Africa relation and make a better future for both Chinese and African peoples.
Thank you.