'Three new changes' underpin China-Africa cooperation

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Cooperation between China and African countries has gradually transformed and upgraded, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi noted during a meeting with his Zambian counterpart Harry Kalaba on Monday.

Under the ideas put forward at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Johannesburg in 2015, the China-Africa win-win cooperation has shown "three new changes."

The first change is a cooperation transformation from government-led to market-oriented. The second is an upgrade from general commodity trade to capacity cooperation and processing trade. The third is a shift from ordinary project contracting to the expansion of investment, construction and operation.

Despite a gloomy world economy and sluggish growth of global trade, the China-Africa capacity cooperation and the alignment of their industrial policies are growing robustly, Wang said.

The cooperation has witnessed fast growth, with many Chinese enterprises coming to Africa to invest and establish plants, noted Wang.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrives at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Zambia's capital Lusaka to begin an official visit to Zambia on January 8, 2017. /People's D‍aily Photo

He said that from December 2015 to July 2016, agreements signed in various fields between China and Africa have been valued at over 50 billion US dollars.

The "three new changes" indicate that China-Africa cooperation has reached a new level, featuring transformation, upgrade and new opportunities of mutual benefit, the minister said.

Zambia is one of the main players and beneficiaries of the "three new changes," said Wang. He stressed that 2017 marks a key year to implement the outcome of the Johannesburg summit.

Despite an unpredictable international situation and world economy, China will comprehensively implement the summit's outcome so as to bring more benefits to the two peoples of Africa and China at an early date, Wang said.

(Source: Xinhua News Agency)

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