The People’s Republic of China has assured African countries of the full implementation of the outcomes of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Beijing Summit before the next ministerial meeting.
The country also reaffirmed that Africa remained an equal partner in the cooperation framework.
Mr Shuai Guipeng, Deputy Director of the FOCAC Office at China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gave the assurance on Monday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Beijing.
Guipeng said China remained committed to honouring all agreements reached with African countries, stressing that the partnership was built on equality, mutual respect and shared responsibility rather than a donor-recipient relationship.
According to him, for the cooperation, China and Africa will be treated on an equal footing. Africa will not just be a recipient of the cooperation.
He also said that the implementation of the outcomes of the FOCAC Beijing Summit was progressing smoothly, adding that both China and African countries were jointly advancing projects agreed under the cooperation framework.
”China-Africa cooperation has evolved beyond infrastructure delivery to include joint operation and long-term management of completed projects to ensure sustainability,” he said.
Citing the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya, Guipeng said Chinese partners did not simply complete the railway and leave, but established a joint operating company with Kenyan partners to ensure its efficient operation and continued benefits.
”This is a vivid example showing that Africa is not just a one-way recipient of our cooperation,” he added.
Speaking on implementation challenges, Guipeng said the issue was not a lack of commitment but the large volume of projects to be delivered within a limited timeframe.
According to him, the implementation of FOCAC is smooth itself. The challenge is that we don’t have enough time and there are too many things we want to do.
He expressed confidence that the outcomes of the Beijing summit would be fully implemented before the next FOCAC ministerial meeting.
Guipeng also disclosed that implementing FOCAC commitments had become part of the Communist Party of China’s internal performance assessment, with officials required to ensure agreed projects were delivered.
”The implementation of the FOCAC summit is an important aspect of our work. The higher level of the party committee will supervise the implementation.
”As long as we make a commitment and reach an agreement with African countries, it will be implemented,” he said.
Responding on Africa’s role in maximising the benefits of the partnership, Guipeng reiterated that China viewed African countries as active participants in development cooperation and not beneficiaries of aid.
He assured African partners that China would continue working with them to ensure all agreed commitments were successfully implemented.
”Our friends from the media can rest assured that the implementation of the FOCAC summit will be completed smoothly and successfully,” he assured.
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