The venue was permeated with a joyful atmosphere.
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China will also support the Somali efforts of economic recovery and national reconstruction, said the Chinese president, vowing to increase China’s aid to Somalia and encourage more Chinese enterprises to engage in mutually beneficial cooperation in the African country.
“(The) slide in trade between China and Africa is not due to falling demand but falling resource prices.
The two-day Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Focac) is the second time China has brought together African leaders since the forum was launched in Beijing in 2000.
The statement was made by the Chinese leader in Johannesburg in an important peak between China and Africa.
From the 2006 Beijing Summit to the Johannesburg summit, FOCAC has experienced 15 years of ups and downs for a new stage of development.
Thanks to China’s financial support, an estimated 5,675 km of railways and 4506.9 km of roads either had been built or were under construction across Africa by September this year, along with other infrastructural facilities such as schools and hospitals.
While commending China for championing peace and development in Africa, Zuma said the relationship with China was different from the rest.
He said the hard global economic crisis affects both the trade outlook as well as investment flows of the two sides.
China has reiterated time and time again that it is interested in developing Africa’s social infrastructure without being seen as, or becoming, a colonial power like previous investors in the continent.
Speaking at a roundtable organized by conservation lobby Africa Wildlife Foundation (AWF) at Kruger National Park in South Africa, the campaigners from China and Africa said Beijing’s contribution was critical to strengthen protection of Africa’s wildlife species. Trade had also zoomed to $220 billion – Africa’s highest with any single country – though this could taper somewhat as China’s thirst for raw materials recedes following the economic downturn, and its tighter focus on investments in Africa.
“Here is a man representing our continent; what he is doing for us is what the people that colonized us yesterday should have done”. Critics say these projects have done little to develop local economies and that China is exploiting the region while ignoring conflict human rights abuses. He disclosed that China will also provide 40,000 technical training opportunities for Africans.
African countries discussed adopting the yuan currency as a foreign exchange reserve during meetings with China at a summit in South Africa, a senior Chinese official said on Friday.
China will provide $60 billion funding support for Africa’s development, Chinese President Xi Jinping said today.
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He said if the West that colonized Africa has ears, they should hear.
