More helping hands for Africa

The FOCAC is rallying more international cooperation to support the continent's post-pandemic recovery and green transition

The eighth ministerial meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation was held in Senegal on Monday and Tuesday, for the fourth time in Africa and the first time in West Africa. The meeting had global significance against the backdrop of the changes in the global landscape, and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the intensifying climate crisis.

Since its inauguration in 2000, the FOCAC has focused on supporting the development of Africa and the joint development of China and Africa. Over the years, the cooperation has extended to more areas through more diversified forms, with the quality of cooperation elevated to higher levels, injecting strong impetus to the development of Africa. The value of goods African countries export to China has soared from $5 billion in 2002 to nearly $100 billion in 2019. As the largest trading partner of Africa for more than 10 consecutive years, China has contributed over 20 percent to the continent's economic growth for years. As Makhtar Diop, World Bank vice-president for Africa, said the rapid growth of the African economy in the 21st century is closely connected to the fast-growing China-Africa trade and cross-border capital.

Practical cooperation is the hallmark of China-Africa cooperation. China has been seeking to cooperate with different African countries in various areas through different forms, while giving consideration to the realities of each country. In providing financial support to African nations, it pays attention to striking a balance between debt sustainability and development. In terms of infrastructure construction, China insists on maintaining high standards for the projects as well as ensuring their affordability for African countries.

At the same time, China adheres to putting Africa's needs first and supports African countries' endeavors to boost their capacity for independent development by helping them overcome infrastructure, talent and capital barriers, and achieving green and sustainable development. To date, thanks to China-Africa cooperation, more than 10,000 kilometers of railway track and nearly 100,000 kilometers of roads have been laid or upgraded, power capacity of 120 gigawatts has been installed, 150,000 km of a communication backbone network has been built, more than 400 medical facilities and 1,200 education organizations have been established, the water treatment capacity has reached 400,000 metric tons annually, and more than 4.5 million new jobs have been created.

The FOCAC's development is happening simultaneously as China-Africa cooperation becomes more inclusive and open. China is an active promoter of South-South cooperation and plays an important role in propelling the institutional cooperation of African countries. China-Africa cooperation has injected new momentum into the global cooperation with Africa, helping form a more balanced, diversified and complementary landscape of cooperation with Africa.

As a key area of global governance, Africa has huge development potential and demand for growth. It also faces tremendous challenges. On the one hand, Africa's development depends on its capacity to pool and utilize global resources. On the other hand, major countries should enhance their coordination in Africa-related affairs to create better external conditions for the development of the continent.

In recent years, China has embraced third-party and multilateral collaboration with Africa, which was underscored at the FOCAC's Johannesburg and Beijing summits. China has established dialogue mechanisms on Africa-related affairs with the United Kingdom, France and the European Union, and signed agreements on the framework of third-party market cooperation, with progress made in cooperation in areas such as agriculture, electricity, ports and water treatment.

In May, China and Africa jointly launched the Initiative on Partnership for Africa's Development and called on the global community to provide more support to the continent in its fight against the pandemic, promote trade and investment, and provide more debt relief. The continent also needs assistance to strengthen its food security, reduce poverty, develop the digital economy and mitigate the effects of climate change.

China and Africa welcome more countries and international organizations to the initiative. In a video summit with French President Emmanuel Macron and then German chancellor Angela Merkel, President Xi Jinping invited the two countries to take part in the initiative. In September, President Xi proposed a Global Development Initiative at the general debate of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly, calling for promoting global development through balanced, coordinated and inclusive growth. When giving the keynote speech at the FOCAC Dakar conference on Monday, President Xi proposed to strengthen the strategic synergy between Global Development Initiative, the African Union 2063 Agenda and the UN 2030 SDGs and welcome more African countries to participate.

The potential of the FOCAC as an international platform for cooperation with Africa is being unlocked. Different countries' summits with Africa are becoming more international and inclusive. Africa's summits with the United Kingdom, France and Japan emphasize coordination among the UN bodies, global financial organizations, regional organizations and other key stakeholders, and pay attention to building inclusive dialogue mechanisms with private sectors, media outlets, NGOs, groups of youth and women.

In addition, the FOCAC has made progress in leveraging private capital to finance the development of Africa. Since the Johannesburg Summit in 2015, the forum has strengthened communication with the UN system, and promoted the alignment of the FOCAC with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Agenda 2063 of the AU, and development plans of different African countries. Dialogue mechanisms have been established under the framework of the FOCAC with the private sectors of African countries, NGOs, youth groups and think tanks. That being said, still more work should be done in coordinating global resources and enhancing the inclusiveness of the forum.

As the COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc in Africa and poses a formidable challenge to the continent's development, and climate change is profoundly affecting the energy transitions of African countries, global cooperation is required to support Africa's post-pandemic recovery and green transition. The UK-Africa Investment Summit held last year, the France-Africa Summit this year, the second US-Africa Leaders' Summit to be held next year, and the FOCAC Dakar meeting are all important parts of the global effort to help Africa's development.

In this collective effort, all parties should respect each other, and tap potential for cooperation based on natural divisions of labor, which will bring benefits not only to themselves but also to African countries.

The author is a senior research fellow at the Center for West Asian and African Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.