On August 27, 2012, Vice Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council attended and addressed the opening ceremony of the First Forum on China-Africa Local Government Cooperation. He pointed out that China-Africa cooperation is the type of cooperation between developing countries. The two sides should uphold the concept of mutual trust, mutual benefit and interaction and seize opportunities to promote all-round cooperation in a constructive manner and bring the new type of China-Africa strategic partnership to a new level.
Vice Premier Li said in his speech that there is a long history of friendly exchanges between China and Africa and the cooperation between the two sides has seen tremendous progress. As the largest trading partner of Africa, China has made investment in 50 African countries. China is the world’s largest developing country and Africa has the world’s largest group of developing countries. Some African countries have entered the rank of middle-income countries, but there are still many low-income countries in Africa. China also has an obvious regional imbalance in development. China and Africa face similar development and have common development missions. China-Africa cooperation will help both sides revive the economy, attract more attention from the international community to Africa and to developing countries, and propel common development and lasting prosperity of the world.
Vice Premier Li Keqiang Delivering Important Speech
Li stressed that China-Africa cooperation is based on mutual respect and equal treatment. Countries, big or small, are equals in the international family. In cooperation with foreign countries, one country should respect the efforts of other countries to explore development paths suited to their respective national conditions and should not interfere in internal affairs of other countries. China attaches no political conditions to its assistance to Africa and is willing to work together with other countries and international organizations to participate in and boost the development of Africa. China-Africa cooperation will present opportunities to both sides and is based on mutual benefit and win-win results. The total population of China and Africa accounts for 1/3 of the world’s population. Both sides enjoyed rapid economic growth in recent years. Both sides have their own development characteristics and enjoy respective advantages. China-Africa cooperation is to expand converging interests, realize common development and achieve win-win results. China and Africa are brothers and partners. China-Africa cooperation will bring tangible benefit to the Chinese and African people and contribute to world peace and development. As a result, China-Africa cooperation will sustain.
Li said that the international environment is unstable and the uncertainties are on the rise. The slow pace of global economic growth is showing a long-term trend and has become the biggest immediate problem facing the world. At the same time, a new round of technological revolution is incubating and the overall strength of developing countries is increasing. Under the new situation, China-Africa cooperation, despite of a very complex situation, is facing opportunities to move further upward.
Therence Sinunguruza, the First Vice Preisdent of Burundi Addressing the Opening Ceremony
Li pointed out that the key to bringing the new type of China-Africa strategic partnership to a new level is to uphold the concept of "mutual trust", "mutual benefit", and "interaction". Mutual trust is based on common strategic interests. The two sides should enhance political mutual trust and strengthen communication and coordination on major international issues. Mutual benefit means that the two sides should implement the agreements and cooperation projects reached at the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, put more emphasis on driving the balanced cooperation in both resources areas and non-resources areas such as agriculture and the manufacturing sector, and pay more attention to improving the livelihoods of the people and protecting ecological environment. Interaction means that the two sides should strengthen exchanges in education, health, culture, tourism and other related areas, boost the interactions between two great civilizations and consolidate the public opinion foundation for such cooperation.
Li stressed that the local government cooperation has become an important part of bilateral relations between China and African countries. China is, as always, willing to strengthen the local government cooperation with African countries and increase the breadth and depth of cooperation. Over the next five years, the two sides will make efforts to double the number of paired friendly cities and China will help Africa train more talents. China and Africa should learn from each other. The two sides will exchange 1,000 local officers, entrepreneurs and people from all walks of life and will extend China-Africa cooperation and friendship from the top to the grassroots and from the government to the people.
Before the opening ceremony, Li met with Uganda’s Vice President Edward Ssekandi, First Vice President of Burundi Therence Sinunguruza, and other foreign guests. Li welcomed the guests to participate in the Forum. The foreign guests thanked China for the efforts to host the forum. They expressed the hope to make good use of the platform to expand mutually beneficial cooperation, promote the traditional friendship, and write a new chapter for China-Africa friendship.
Li Xiaolin, the President of CPAFFC, Addressing the Opening Ceremony
Abdul’ahat Abdulrixit, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Beijing Acting Mayor Wang Anshun, President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries Li Xiaolin and other Chinese officials participated in the above activities.
The Forum on China-Africa Local Government Cooperation is a platform within the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and with the goal of promoting the exchanges and cooperation between local governments of China and Africa. The Forum is co-organized by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLGA). About 1,700 people from 40 African countries, 29 Chinese provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), and related international organizations and institutions attended the opening ceremony.
Site of the Opening Ceremony
