Chinese FM: Poverty reduction, sustainable development common agenda of China, Africa

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Addressing poverty and achieving sustainable development are the common agenda of China and Africa, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in his remarks delivered during a joint press conference with the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters about China's poverty reduction and development cooperation with Africa, Wang said poverty is a common enemy of mankind and a source of violence and terror, while development is the key to solving all the problems.

He noted that the Sino-African cooperation has focused on addressing poverty and achieving development.

Stating that about 400 million people are living in poverty in Africa, Wang underlined the urgent task of achieving poverty reduction on the continent.

He also noted that China's success in addressing poverty significantly, whereby it has lifted 700 million Chinese out of poverty, is a lesson to be drawn by African countries.

At the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2015, President Xi Jinping announced the China-Africa Poverty Reduction and Development Cooperation Program, in response to Africa's urgent expectation, Wang recalled.

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a speech in the high-level dialogue with Chinese and African business dignitaries, also closing ceremony of the Fifth China-Africa Enterprises Conference, in Johannesburg, South Africa, on December 4, 2015. /Xinhua Photo

A high-level dialogue and think tank forum on poverty reduction and development was held on Wednesday at the AU headquarters, which Wang said was an important platform to share achievements and experiences of poverty reduction between the two sides.

Wang said he hoped participants of the forum will come up with practical action plans after drawing inspirations from the book "Out of Poverty" by President Xi and the successful practice of poverty alleviation in China.

Wang expressed China's keen interest in sharing its experiences and strengthening future cooperation based on Africa's priorities towards achieving poverty reduction and aspired development on the continent.

He also expressed China's commitment to support Africa's human resource development, for which China provides tens of thousands of government scholarships and trainings in China as well as technical and vocational training to about 200,000 personnel in Africa.

With only one Chinese-built railway project in Kenya, the Mombasa-Nairobi railway, more than 40,000 local workers were trained and about 38,000 jobs were created for the local people, Wang said.

A train carries out a test run on Kenya's Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway on May 24, 2017. /Xinhua Photo

He also stated that China supported Africa by providing emergency food and aid to more than 20 African countries, and it would continue to do so in the future in responding to the needs of African countries.

Wang showed his country's support to Africa in addressing the bottlenecks of infrastructure development on the continent.

China has already built more than 6,200 kilometers of railways and 5,200 kilometers of roads in Africa, as well as a large number of ports, airports, power stations and communications infrastructure, he said, adding that China will continue to support Africa in improving its infrastructure.

Wang also noted that China supports Africa in strengthening the public health system and capacity-building on the continent.

"China will support the African CDC (Center for Diseases Control and Prevention) headquarters and the construction of five sub-regional centers as the starting point to support Africa to build a disease prevention and control of modern system," he said.

(Source: Xinhua)

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