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Remarks by H.E. Ambassador Liu Yuxi at the Seminar on "Working towards a New Era of China-Africa Cooperation in the spirit of Unity, Cooperation and Common Development"
(Addis Ababa, October 17, 2018)
2018-10-19 23:08

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Friends,

Good morning!

This year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up. It is also a major year for China-Africa relations, as the FOCAC Beijing Summit was concluded last month with complete success, mapping out a new blueprint for China-Africa cooperation.

It gives me great pleasure to attend today's seminar under the theme of "Working towards a New Era of China-Africa Cooperation in the Spirit of Unity, Cooperation and Common Development". I think it is timely and important to provide a platform to exchange views on China-Africa all-around cooperation due to its flourishing development over the past years.

It is my sincere hope that we will have in-depth and fruitful discussions on China-Africa partnership and make concrete proposals to our future cooperation.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Friends,

As the largest developing country in the world with a population of over 1.3 billion, China firmly believes that a better world brings about a better China while a prosperous China contributes to a prosperous world. Over the past four decades, China has made remarkable economic and social achievements thanks to the reform and opening-up. By groping for stones to cross the river, China has changed from a poor and weak country to the world's second largest economy, and has improved the lives of its people tremendously.

While pursuing its own development, China endeavors to seek common development of the whole humanity and is firmly committed to multilateralism and a new type of international relations featuring unity, cooperation and mutual benefits. China welcomes and supports other countries to join in the express train of our development for a win-win cooperation and common development.

Africa is endowed with the largest number of developing countries. China's reform and opening-up is associated with the vigorous development of China-Africa relations. However, China never acts as a "preacher" of Africa, nor does China add political agenda into its cooperation with Africa. China is committed to creating more synergies between Africa's long-term development and its own development, and help blaze a development path that suits Africa's national conditions and leads to the development of its capacity-building.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Friends,

The successful conclusion of the FOCAC Beijing Summit is not only a historic gathering of the China-Africa family, but also ushers in a new era for furthering the unity and cooperation between China and Africa for common development. As many of you and I myself have the honor to witness this grand event in Beijing, we absolutely have much to share in this regard.

This summit is recognized as a "China-Africa Friendship Golden Week." Over 3,200 participants including the Chinese President Xi Jinping, 40 African Presidents, 10 Prime Ministers, one Vice-President, the Chairperson of the AUC, the UN Secretary-General as well as 26 Representatives of International and African regional Organizations attended this grand event.

During the two-day Summit, the Chinese and African leaders have held more than 100 multilateral and bilateral events and witnessed the signing of nearly 150 cooperation agreements covering various fields. The Summit adopted two important outcome documents, the Beijing Declaration--Toward an Even Stronger China-Africa Community with a Shared Future and the FOCAC Beijing Action Plan (2019-2021).

Both African and Chinese leaders agreed to work towards a China-Africa community with shared future that assumes our joint responsibility, pursues win-win cooperation, delivers happiness for all of us, enjoys cultural prosperity and common security, and promotes harmony between man and nature, and clearly sent out the voice of opposing unilateralism and protectionism and firmly safeguarding multilateralism and the free trade system.

The eight major initiatives are the highlight of the practical outcomes of the Summit, which are highly consistent with the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, the AU Agenda 2063 and African countries' development strategies. The new initiatives for China-Africa cooperation are supported by concrete projects with a focus on quality, efficiency and sustainability.

To that end, China and Africa will join hands within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, to strengthen their cooperation in the fields of industry development, infrastructure, trade and investment, energy, agriculture and environmental protection and pay more attention to people's livelihood such as poverty reduction, public health, people-to-people exchanges and green development. China will make concerted efforts with our African brothers and sisters to further explore new ideas and ways of cooperation for Africa's sound and sustainable development with a view to promoting China-Africa cooperation to a new height.

As H.E. Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the AUC, said during the FOCAC Beijing Summit, "With the success of the Beijing summit and under the leadership of President Xi, Africa-China relations have found out the right direction and chosen the right path."

The success of the Beijing Summit has once again demonstrated that the traditional friendship between China and Africa enjoys an ever-growing solid foundation and our relations have broad prospects. The mechanism of the FOCAC is pragmatic and efficient, which will bring about new opportunities for Africa's development and contribute to a new global governance system in a more equitable, rational and balanced manner.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear friends,

As the banner guiding Africa's unity, cooperation and integration, African Union is an important member of China-Africa family. Since the assumption of my duty as the Chinese Ambassador to the AU, I am deeply impressed by the potential and vitality of the China-AU cooperation.

During the Beijing Summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping held a fruitful meeting with H.E. Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat. The two leaders agreed to enhance alignment of strategies, jointly implement the Belt and Road Initiative, deepen pragmatic cooperation, expand security cooperation and promote capability-building. China supports the AU in playing a greater role of guidance and coordination in transnational and trans-regional cooperation.

During the Summit, H.E. Mr. Wang Yi, Chinese State Counsellor and Foreign Minister, jointly hosted with the AUC Chairperson the inauguration ceremony of the AU's Representative office in China. Several other cooperation documents have also been signed between the two sides, including the MOU on the Belt and Road initiative.

It is often said that the worth of any plan lies in its implementation. China is ready to join hands with the African Union to implement the consensus reached by their leaders and bring about more tangible outcomes for China-AU cooperation.

Thank you.

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