Special
China-Africa joint construction of the Belt and Road has made new progress
Seetao 2022-08-22 09:55
  • China-Africa cooperation in infrastructure and other fields has injected new energy into Africa's social and economic development
  • The African Free Trade Area was officially implemented, expanding the development space for China-Africa cooperation
Reading this article requires
16 Minute

Looking forward to China-Africa cooperation in the new era, China-Africa friendship is becoming more and more lasting. One is the largest developing country and the other is the continent with the most developing countries. China and Africa are separated by thousands of miles but cooperate closely. On the evening of August 18, the meeting of coordinators for the implementation of the outcomes of the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation was held by video link. The joint efforts of China and Africa to fully implement the outcomes of the meeting will surely further promote the high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road between China and Africa to better benefit the Chinese and African people.

Nearly nine years after the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed, African countries have actively participated. By the end of 2021, 52 of the 53 African countries that have established diplomatic relations with China and the African Union Commission have signed cooperation documents with China to jointly build the Belt and Road Initiative. Africa has become one of the most important directions for participating in the Belt and Road cooperation.

Economic and trade cooperation accelerates development

On August 2, the first batch of fresh avocados officially exported from Africa to China were packed and shipped at the Sunrip factory in Limuru, Kenya. After arriving at Shanghai Port by sea, the avocados filled with four containers will be sold to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other cities.

In addition to fresh fruits, wines from South Africa, peanuts from Senegal, coffee from Ethiopia... More and more African specialty products are entering the Chinese market.

In recent years, despite the adverse effects of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, under the promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative, China-Africa economic and trade cooperation has become increasingly close, and the scale of trade has steadily increased. According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, China has maintained the status of Africa's largest trading partner for 13 consecutive years. In 2021, China-Africa trade volume will exceed the US$250 billion mark, a year-on-year increase of 35.3%.

Wu Peng, Director-General of the African Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that both China and Africa have entered a new stage of development. China promotes the construction of a new development pattern with the domestic cycle as the main body and the domestic and international dual cycles mutually reinforcing, which will bring more "China opportunities" to Africa's development. The official implementation of the African Free Trade Area, the acceleration of African economic integration and regional economic integration, expands the development space for China-Africa cooperation.

Infrastructure cooperation continues to deepen

Since the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Chinese enterprises have used various funds to help African countries add and upgrade more than 10,000 kilometers of railways, nearly 100,000 kilometers of highways, nearly 1,000 bridges, nearly 100 ports, 66,000 kilometers of power transmission lines, The installed power capacity is 120 million kilowatts, the communication backbone network is 150,000 kilometers, and network services cover nearly 700 million user terminals.

Since the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in November 2021, China and Africa have continued to advance cooperation in infrastructure construction. The cooperation projects include the Cameroon Kribi-Lolabe Expressway which has been put into operation, the first phase of the Egyptian "Ramadan City" suburban railway, and the Nigerian Lekki deep-water port project under construction. While meeting Africa's own development needs and plans, the Belt and Road cooperation project not only helps Africa enhance its own "blood-making" function, but also lays a solid foundation for the industrial upgrading and development of relevant countries.

Liu Haifang, director of the Center for African Studies at Peking University, believes that deepening China-Africa cooperation not only requires the international community to enhance understanding and mutual trust, and jointly create a good environment for cooperation, but also requires Africa to speed up infrastructure construction and improve the level of economic and trade facilitation, so as to better participate in the global Industrial cooperation.

Held two Belt and Road Energy Ministers' Meetings, the number of member states of the Belt and Road Energy Partnership has reached 33, established an intergovernmental energy cooperation mechanism with more than 50 countries and regions, and cooperated with more than 100 countries and regions on green energy projects... ...Riding the east wind of jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative, the high-quality cooperation between China and relevant countries in the field of energy is injecting surging impetus into the economic development of Africa.

Along the blueprint of the Belt and Road, more and more energy companies in China have also taken the step of "going out". In June 2022, the first photovoltaic power station in the Central African Republic, the Sakai photovoltaic power station, was connected to the grid to generate electricity. This project, which was contracted by China Energy Construction Group Tianjin Electric Power Construction Co., Ltd., has greatly eased the difficulty of electricity supply in the capital Bangui and promoted the local economic and social development.

In recent years, CNOOC has participated in the construction of the first large oil field in Uganda, the Three Gorges Corporation has designed and constructed the Kaleta Hydropower Station in Guinea, and Power China has undertaken the construction of the Adama 204MW wind power project in Ethiopia. power source.

One road, one bridge, one commodity, one project... A series of achievements is the epitome of the solid progress of high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road. More and more African people also have colorful dreams and a future full of opportunities because of China-Africa joint construction of the Belt and Road cooperation.

The year 2022 marks the 66th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Africa, and is also the first year for the implementation of the outcomes of the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

Wu Chuanhua, associate researcher at the China-Africa Research Institute, said that with the full implementation of the outcomes of the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China-Africa friendly and cooperative relations have been deepened, new growth and new highlights of economic and trade cooperation between the two sides continue to emerge, people-to-people and cultural exchanges are flourishing, and peace and security are emerging. Field cooperation has expanded steadily. "In the future, China-Africa cooperation will only be strengthened, not weakened, only expanded, not reduced, only upgraded, not downgraded." Editor / Xu Shengpeng


Comment

Related articles

Special

Xinjiang plans to build a 10 billion yuan automotive industry park project

03-18

Special

African women pursue their dreams of happiness with help of Chinese enterprises

03-07

Special

A New Chapter in Co Syria Cooperation between CCCC and Sierra Leone

03-04

Special

China and Hungary join hands to deepen Belt and Road cooperation

02-29

Special

The music of the Silk Road in the new Era is heard all over the world

02-28

Special

The Belt and Road is an important platform for multilateralism

02-27

Collect
Comment
Share

Retrieve password

Get verification code
Sure