From Sunday Ani
The Chinese Consul General in Lagos, Yan Yuqing, has said China would continue to strengthen civilisational exchanges and mutual learning with African countries, including Nigeria.
Yuqing, in her statement titled “Strengthen civilisational dialogue, foster China-African friendship,” said China would not only join hands with Africa to promote inclusive development but also provide an inexhaustible driving force for the progress of human civilisation.
She explained that China was committed to strengthening dialogue and increasing consensus with African countries in political, economic, cultural, social, and ecological civilisation fields.
According to her, the upcoming mid-June ministerial meeting of coordinators on the implementation of the follow-up actions of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) would be another milestone in deepening China-Africa cooperation.
“This conference will aim to implement the spirit of the China-Africa leaders’ summit, set a benchmark for high-quality co-construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, and create a model for implementing the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative. It will continuously enhance the sense of gain, happiness, and security of the African people and accelerate the common modernisation of China and Africa,” she said.
“The Chinese Foreign Minister’s annual first visit to Africa for 35 consecutive years fully demonstrates the evergreen traditional friendship between China and Africa and China’s consistent friendly cooperation with Africa. Walking side by side on the path to modernisation, China and Africa always understand, trust, support, and help each other.
“The true friendship between China and Africa is reflected in the pragmatic cooperation with Africa. China has always adhered to the principle of pursuing the greater good and shared interests, through a Chinese path to modernisation to help Africa develop and ultimately achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.
“China is willing to work with Africa to build a platform for governance experience sharing, deepen exchanges of experience in party and state governance, and designate 2026 as the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges. Under the guidance of head-of-state diplomacy, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Action Plan (2025–2027) further refines cooperation measures and proposes a package of specific cooperation projects,” Yuqing added.