The opening ceremony of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was held in Beijing on September 5, as Chinese President Xi Jinping said that China stands ready to work with Africa to implement 10 partnership action plans to jointly advance modernization.
One-third of the world's population lives in China and Africa, and there will be no global modernization without the modernization of China and Africa, Xi said in a keynote speech at the opening ceremony.
The 10 partnership action plans, to be implemented in the next three years, cover the areas of mutual learning among civilizations, trade prosperity, industrial chain cooperation, connectivity, development cooperation, health, agriculture and livelihoods, people-to-people and cultural exchanges, green development and common security, he said.
After attending the opening ceremony, Dehpue Yenpea Zuo, Deputy Finance Minister for Economic Management of Liberia, shared with GDToday that he saw the strategic importance behind the 10 partnership action plans, as it involves financing opportunities for African countries.
"One major thing is the issue of infrastructure," he noted. "And therefore, we think that for Africa, including main country Liberia, this forum, in the presence of all African leaders, allows us to make a determination."
China and Liberia enjoys enduring friendship over the past decades. Dehpue believes the field that both countries could further cooperate is green economy, in particularly, forest conservation.
"We also think that the issue of green economy is very important for our economy, as Liberia is one of the country with the highest forest preservation in the west coast of Africa," he said. "These are all the opportunities we have,"he added.
In the view of Dehpue, modernization of the world is very much important, in which the issue of technology is what bond all countries around the world for dialogue and exchange. "Countries around the world, whatever you are from west or from the south, digital technology have enhanced modernization." he said, "And that's one thing we think that we have in common."
Reporter | Jersey, Ling Xi (Nanfang Daily)
Video | Leo
Editor | Steven, Will, James
