African nations and China have adopted the Beijing Declaration on building a China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.
They have also adopted an Action Plan of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) for the next three years.
The Beijing Declaration and the Action Plan were adopted on Thursday September 5, 2024 at the opening session of this year’s FOCAC held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
The three years action plan, covers the areas of mutual learning among civilizations, trade prosperity, industrial chain cooperation, connectivity, development cooperation, healthcare, rural revitalization and people’s wellbeing, people-to-people exchanges, green development and common security, according to the action plan.
Basically, the Plan covers all aspects of modernization, reflecting China’s confidence and sincerity in promoting modernization with Africa, Song Wei, a professor at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times.
To ensure the successful implementation of the 10 partnership initiatives, China will provide Africa with 360 billion yuan ($50.69 billion) in the next three years. Per the action plan, China will grant duty-free treatment to 100% of the tariff lines of products from least developed countries with diplomatic ties with China.
China promised to voluntarily and unilaterally open its market wider. The move makes China the first major developing country and the first major economy to take such a step and will help turn China’s big market into Africa’s big opportunity, Xi noted in his keynote speech.
China is further expected to help implement 30 infrastructure projects in Africa, build a multimodal sea-rail transport network that connects China’s central and western regions to Africa and deepen cooperation with the continent in local currency settlement and financial technology.
Again, under the action plan, China send 2,000 medical personnel and public health experts and 500 agricultural experts, implement 20 healthcare and malaria treatment programs, and 30 clean energy and green development projects, encourage Chinese businesses in Africa to create no less than 1 million local jobs, and provide 60,000 training opportunities with priority given to programs for women’s empowerment and youth development.
Still under the plan, China will join hands with Africa to establish and implement a Global Security Initiative partnership by providing military grants, training military personnel and inviting African military officers to visit China and conduct exercises and patrols.
China stands ready to work with Africa
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday indicated that China stands ready to work with Africa to implement 10 partnership actions to jointly advance modernization.
Mr. Jinping in his keynote address proposed that bilateral relations between China and all African countries having diplomatic ties with China should be elevated to the level of strategic relations, and that the overall characterization of China-Africa relations be elevated to an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.
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