(period
June 2002- June 2003)
Political
cooperation
China is continuing to augment exchanges of high-level visits with African countries as well as contacts among all categories of personnel. Major Chinese leaders have visited Africa 17 times, and 28 high-level leaders of African countries have visited China. Through the mutual exchange of visits, the Chinese side emphasizes the introduction of China’s successful experience in managing reform, development and stable relations, and conducts exchanges of views on such important topics as peace and development.
Peace
and security
The Government of China closely follows and supports efforts to seek peace on the African continent, and has sent numerous military observers to take part in peacekeeping operations conducted by the United Nations or by African regional organizations. It has provided material mine-clearance aid to or launched cooperative mine-clearance programmes with such countries as Angola, Mozambique and Eritrea, and has provided small monetary contributions to the Organization of African Unity (African Union) to be used in support of peacekeeping operations in Ethiopia/Eritrea and Congo (Kinshasa). In early 2003, China sent 218 peacekeeping personnel to participate in United Nations peacekeeping operations in Congo (Kinshasa).
Debt
relief
From January 2001 to June 2002, the Government of China signed debt-cancellation protocols with 31 friendly African countries, cancelling a total of 156 mature debts valued at approximately 1.05 billion renminbi yuan and representing around 60 per cent of those countries’ mature debt to China. More than half of the countries on the African continent benefited from these actions. China has also included Somalia in the debt-reduction plan, but as Somalia does not have a unified central Government, negotiations on debt reduction or cancellation cannot be pursued at present.
Trade
The Government of China attaches importance to expanding trade ties between China and Africa, and is paying close attention to the problem of the imbalance in Sino-African trade. In order to help African products gain smooth entry into the Chinese market, the Chinese side has taken a number of concrete measures, such as organizing the visit of a Chinese enterprise purchasing delegation to Africa for the purpose of purchasing products in the relevant African countries; inviting some African countries to China to participate in or organize African products exhibitions and providing them with free exhibit space; and posting information about African export products and the names of African exporters on the World Wide Web, introducing the products of African countries to Chinese enterprises via the Internet as well as staging events in provinces and cities throughout China to introduce African products to local markets.
The total value of Sino-African trade was US$ 10.76 billion in 2001, and increased by 14.7 per cent to US$ 12.35 billion in 2002.
Investment
The Government of China has established a special fund to support investment and cooperation in Africa by strong and reputable Chinese enterprises, and to date has organized visits to Africa for more than 100 enterprises to investigate investment opportunities there. Chinese enterprises of all kinds have been gradually increasing their investments in Africa, primarily in the areas of production projects and resource development; a total of 92 enterprises made new investments in Africa, and 14 foreign joint-investment cooperative projects were inaugurated in 11 African countries and 9 concessional loan projects were inaugurated in 8 African countries.
Besides establishing the aforementioned special fund, the Government of China has set up a fund specifically intended for foreign contract risk guarantees, designed to provide support for Chinese enterprises applying to bid on or carry out engineering contracts abroad; it has drawn up related financial-support policy, such as export loan and export credit insurance and international marketing funds for medium and small enterprises; and actively encouraged Chinese enterprises to set up economic cooperation businesses in Africa.
Human resources development
The Chinese side has established a fund for African human resources development, jointly administered and used by the Chinese Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Commerce, Education, Science and Technology, Agriculture, and Health; each unit is responsible for training African personnel in its area of competence. Under the aegis of this fund, the Chinese side has conducted training courses of all kinds for African personnel, over 6,000 of whom have received training under the programme. 165 experts have been sent to African regions to assist in the training of personnel from African countries.
The Government of China attaches great importance to cooperation with African countries in the field of education. Over 1,500 scholarships for study in China are provided to students from African countries every year; a number of Chinese institutions of higher learning have established relationships with institutions of higher learning in African countries and are currently engaged in some cooperative projects with those institutions.
Agriculture,
health and tourism
The Chinese side views agriculture as the priority area in Sino-African cooperation. First of all, China is actively promoting high-level contacts with the government departments responsible for agriculture in African countries: there have been as many as 10 Sino-African exchange visits by agriculture officials at the ministerial level, and China has successively signed agricultural memoranda of understanding with Egypt, Kenya, Ethiopia and Mozambique, thereby increasing Sino-African understanding and cooperation in the area of agriculture. Secondly, China is training agricultural technologists from African countries: since 2001, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Agriculture of Ethiopia have administered a cooperative two-part training programme in vocational skills for agriculture, under which the Chinese side has contributed 80 instructors of its own and trained a further 478 Ethiopian agricultural instructors. The Chinese side also participates actively in South-South cooperation programmes in the agricultural area; it has signed South-South cooperation agreements with the agriculture ministries of Mauritania, Ghana, Ethiopia and Mali, and has sent a total of 62 agricultural experts and technologists to those countries to provide guidance and training in agricultural techniques. Thirdly, the Chinese side attaches importance to encouraging Chinese enterprises to take part in cooperative agricultural projects in Africa, and has convened a special discussion forum on Sino-African agricultural investment and cooperation.
With regard to exchanges and cooperation in the field of health, the Chinese Ministry of Public Health has sponsored a dozen or so exchange visits at the ministerial level with African countries, and has signed or renewed 31 agreements to dispatch medical teams; it provides medicines, medical equipment and materials free of charge to African countries; and it continues to promote cooperation in the prevention and treatment of such illnesses as malaria and HIV/AIDS while actively training medical personnel for African countries. In 2002, the Chinese Ministry of Public Health conducted a two-part international training course in techniques for the prevention and treatment of malaria and tropical diseases, in which 30 students from 17 African countries participated. In October of 2002, the Ministry of Public Health and the State Traditional Chinese Medicine and Pharmaceuticals Administration jointly convened a Sino-African forum on traditional medicine and pharmaceuticals, which was attended by representatives from 21 African countries. The forum explored strategies for Sino-African cooperation and development in the area of traditional medicine and pharmaceuticals, and adopted guidelines for Sino-African development and cooperation in that area.
In the area of cooperation in tourism, China has approved Egypt, South Africa and Morocco as tourism destinations for Chinese citizens travelling at their own expense. The Chinese side maintains a positive attitude towards the approval of even more African countries as tourism destinations for Chinese citizens.
Support
for NEPAD Priorities
Following the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation — Ministerial Conference Beijing 2000, China set about conscientiously implementing the related follow-up actions. In line with the proposals of the African countries, the Chinese side actively studied ways to develop cooperation between the China-Africa Cooperation Forum mechanism and NEPAD, and to support the African countries’ implementation of NEPAD by means of the Forum’s follow-up actions.
Since 2001, the Chinese Government has further strengthened its cooperation with African countries in every field, provided appropriate aid, and focused on:
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Basic institutions
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Human resource development
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Investment and trade
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Agriculture
Approximate
financial assistance to African countries since 2001
To the extent possible, the Government of China has continued to provide aid of all kinds to friendly African countries, and has signed 144 new aid agreements with 43 African countries. During this period, new aid agreements with African countries accounted for approximately 35 per cent of China’s overall new external assistance for the period, and grew at an average yearly rate of 3 per cent. When preparing its new aid plan in 2003, the Chinese Government continued an appropriate increase in the proportion of its gratis assistance to Africa as well as increasing its value and broadening its composition.
The Chinese side is placing particular emphasis on assisting African countries in building roads, hospitals and other basic installations in using this aid.
Cooperation between China and the countries of Africa constitutes a major component in South-South cooperation, and has played a requisite role in promoting African peace and development, providing impetus for developing countries to enhance consultation, promote cooperation and seek common development. In particular, the establishment and perfection of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum mechanism has provided China and Africa with a new channel for more effective dialogue and cooperation. In December 2003, the Forum will hold its first ministerial-level meeting in Africa, and will conduct a new exchange of views on the topic of Sino-African cooperation.
The Government of China supports the efforts of the African countries to implement NEPAD; it has held discussions on this topic with South Africa, Nigeria and other NEPAD founders and the African Union. China and Africa both agree to strengthen the structure of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum mechanism, and to study areas and ways in which the Forum and NEPAD can cooperate.