Johannesburg Summit of FOCAC 2015 will deepen Sino-African cooperation

Cao Zhimin The Johannesburg Summit and Ministerial Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) are taking place from December 2nd to 5th in Johannesburg, South Africa; this is yet another opportunity to take stoke, and deepen Sino-African ties. It’s the first time this important Summit is taking place on the continent and over 50 African heads of state and government are expected to attend the event to be co-chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping and South African President Zuma. The ball to the Johannesburg summit was set rolling after China and Africa agreed to upgrade the ministerial session of FOCAC to a summit level with the intention of promoting the development of China-Africa relationship. Under the theme, “China-Africa Progressing Together: Win-Win Cooperation for Common Development,” Johannesburg summit is expected to inspire ideas and solutions to address current and emerging global challenges. The founding of FOCAC in Beijing in 2000, as a tri-annual collective dialogue platform for co-operation between China and Africa, was seen as a signal of the dynamic and expanding nature of Sino-Africa relations. Fifteen years later, that signal has only grown clearer and stronger and the significance of the Johannesburg Summit is evidence to that fact. The Summit, I believe, will help to enhance investor confidence in Africa from the international community, and attract more attention and greater input into the continent at a time of even greater need for investment to create more jobs. It has rightly been noted by several observers that, FOCAC, is an exemplary form of South-South co-operation, demonstrating the strengths of utilizing an incremental and practical approach to tackling development issues of mutual concern. Since launching its open-up reforms, three decades ago, the economic volume of China has leapfrogged to the second place in the world with its industrialization gradually reaching to the mature stage and its sophisticated manufacturing capacities. The story of China’s economic success in recent decades is something I believe is possible in many African countries and it’s through platforms such as FOCAC that such aspirations can be pursued better. With the continent’s abundant natural resources, plentiful human labor and huge market potential, Africa’s is at the starting stage of industrialization and China is willing and has the ability to be the ideal partner in the process of industrialization of Africa. As a way for fostering such a partnership, the Summit will help build consensus on China-Africa cooperation and align the Chinese development agenda with that of Africa. The thinking that through helping ‘the sustainable development of Africa, China itself would realize better development,’is true and should be encouraged as Africa would hugely benefit from the advantage of Chinese equipment, technology and finance. Many African countries are undergoing a stage that China has only previously experienced and there’s plenty of experience to share. For instance, while most Africa is working tirelessly to achieve industrialization and modernization, China is undergoing structural economic adjustment for the transformation and up-gradation of its industrialization. Therefore, the high degree of complementarity between China and Africa providesanimportant opportunity for the strategic alignment of the Sino-Africa development agenda. But in order to take that complementarity to high levels, there is a need for more cooperation including, up-grading the existing common trade relations to industrial cooperation and technology exchange in order to help propel Africa’s nascent manufacturing base. It’s my honest belief that through making full use of our political mutual trust and economic complementarity, we can turn our traditional friendship into a strong force to propel development and help turn the potential of African plentiful labor resources and abundant natural resources into strengths of economic development and fruitful outcomes benefiting African people. On that note, I am happy that the Summit will focus on emphasizing the China-Africa cooperation in various fields, especially industrial and agricultural modernization cooperation which are a top priority for most African countries. The Johannesburg summit is also an opportunity to strengthen the solidarity between developing countries at a time when the world is at the critical stage of big development, reform and adjustment. With the rise of developing countries, China and Africa occupy a very critical position in that discourse whereby; China is the world’s largest developing country and Africa the continent with the highest concentration of developing countries. Also consider that, the total population of China and Africa is 2.4 billion, occupying one third of the world population; therefore, the China-Africa partnership can also be seen as an alliance to safeguard the rights and interests of the developing countriesto foster a more balanced international order. These are all grounds upon which we can construct a stronger foundation for development cooperation and the summit will reflect the solidarity among developing countries and show a new vision of common development to the world. The writer is the Political Counselor, Chinese Embassy, Rwanda.

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Johannesburg Summit of FOCAC 2015 will deepen Sino-African cooperation