Closer cooperation Image: Liu Rui/GT
Several African national leaders have arrived in Beijing to attend the upcoming 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit in Beijing from Wednesday to Friday, as analysts from China and Africa said the event would inject A new stimulus was needed to improve the global economy and it was an example of South-South cooperation.
According to Xinhua News Agency, from Saturday night to Sunday, leaders including Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, Eritrean President Isaias Aforki, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, Comoros President Azali Ossumani and Asimi Guita interim financial president have already arrived in Beijing to participate in FOCAC. Experts say the 2024 FOCAC summit will be a major diplomatic event that will bring together not only Chinese and African leaders and representatives of relevant regional and international organizations, but also business executives, scientists and young people from China and the It brings the continent together. It will strengthen high-quality cooperation among the Global South, and these will be of great importance in a world experiencing profound changes and turmoil.
“The leaders of China and Africa will discuss major cooperation strategies, put together plans for cooperation,” Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong said at a briefing for Chinese and foreign media on the 2024 FOCAC summit on August 23. They will review and strengthen exchanges on public governance. which will provide important guidance for the development of the assembly in the next phase.”
The summit will introduce a series of new cooperation initiatives to deepen mutual understanding, respect and dependence between the peoples of China and Africa, so that the friendship between China and Africa will be passed from generation to generation and be the flower of China and Africa, Chen said. Friendship will blossom with a new glow. According to public information, African members of FOCAC include 53 African countries that have established diplomatic relations with China and the African Union Commission.
He Wenping, director of the Institute of West Asian and African Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said this year’s FOCAC summit will push China-Africa cooperation to new heights. “It is likely that we will see increased cooperation between China and African countries in new areas such as digital economy and green development based on existing infrastructure.”
Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Relations University, said: “The world is still experiencing profound changes and turbulence with numerous uncertainties, and there are serious challenges to globalization and the recovery of the global economy. China and African countries are developing countries. There are those who shared the common interests and the position that the multipolarity of the world should be strengthened and we should jointly build a society with a common future for mankind. Therefore, the upcoming FOCAC summit is certainly an encouraging message not only to China and Africa , but will send to the Global South and other parts of the world, because it is a successful example of cooperation in the Global South with global importance.
Comprehensive cooperation
The President of Central Africa, Faustin-Archangel Towadra, started his trip in China by visiting Chongqing and Shandong Provinces from August 28 to Sunday to learn about China’s achievements in areas such as urbanization, new energy, cultural industries, agriculture, etc. .. be informed. Digital economy
Experts say this shows that African leaders are using their presence at FOCAC as an opportunity to explore China in different ways. In addition to diplomacy, they are also interested in learning about China’s development and modernization from a broader and more comprehensive perspective, experts said.
Andalkacho Sime, a former government minister in the Ethiopian Ministry of Planning and Development and founder and deputy CEO of the Africa-China Trade and Investment Facilitation Center, said FOCAC summits are vital for two main reasons: first, they bring focus and attention. The involved countries, each leader participates in these meetings with his notes.
Second, these events help create a better picture of cooperation at the grassroots level in each country. [of different countries]Sime said, and encourages them to take the partnership seriously.
Munetsi Madakumba, executive director of the South African Center for Research and Documentation based in Zimbabwe, said: “The development and cooperation approach between China and Africa is a win-win partnership and emphasizes the importance of understanding each other’s context, conditions and development priorities. If Look at Africa’s development experience and in terms of cooperation with the West, it has been a kind of relationship of exploitation of one side from the other side, which is unbalanced development.
Chinese analysts say that China has always seen Africa as a vibrant continent full of hope and treats African countries as equal partners.
They said now is the time for Africa to begin its modernization journey. As other major economies, especially Western countries, have failed to play a very constructive role in supporting Africa, China-Africa cooperation, characterized by high-level mutual trust and traditional friendship, will be comprehensive and deepened. .
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