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…Co-Chair China-Africa Leaders’ dialogue with President Ramaphosa
On the morning of August 24, 2023, local time, Chinese President Xi Jinping, attended a press segment of the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.
At the event, the announcement was made to invite Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Iran and Ethiopia to the BRICS family as official members.
In the course of the summit, President Xi delivered important remarks. He pointed out that as countries with great heft, BRICS countries shoulder important responsibilities for world peace and development.
During the Summit, leaders had in-depth exchanges of views on the current international situation and BRICS cooperation. They reached extensive consensus, issued the Johannesburg II Declaration, and secured fruitful outcomes.
In his remarks, President Xi noted that leaders of the five BRICS countries unanimously agreed to invite Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Iran and Ethiopia to the BRICS family as official members.
“China wishes to congratulate these countries and express high appreciation to the host South Africa and President Ramaphosa for their valuable efforts,” Xi said.
President Xi highlighted that the BRICS expansion is historic. According to Xi, “It demonstrates the commitment of BRICS countries to cooperate in unity with all developing countries. It meets the expectations of the international community, and serves the common interests of emerging markets and developing countries. The expansion is also a new starting point for BRICS cooperation. It will inject new vitality into the BRICS cooperation mechanism and further strengthen the forces for world peace and development.”
While expressing confidence that as long as BRICS countries work in concert, they will bring out the best in BRICS cooperation and ensure a promising future for BRICS countries, Xi made the call for all to join hands together to write a new chapter of emerging markets and developing countries seeking development through solidarity and cooperation.
On the evening of August 24, 2023, local time, President Xi and his South African counterpart, President Cyril Ramaphosa, co-chaired the China-Africa Leaders’ Dialogue in Johannesburg. During the dialogue, President Xi pointed out that it was his 10th visit to the African continent. Xi recalled that in 2013, he was in Africa for his first foreign visit after becoming Chinese President and announced the principle of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith for China’s Africa policy.
Xi said: “Over the past 10 years, China has stayed committed to this principle. Together with the African friends and drawing strength from the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation, the two sides have pressed ahead on the path of solidarity and cooperation, stood for justice amid shifting global dynamics, and looked out for each other in face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The two sides have taken China-Africa relations to new heights and entered the new stage of jointly building a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future.”
To chart the course for China-Africa practical cooperation in the next stage and assist in Africa’s integration and modernization, Xi made three proposals, namely: First, China will launch the Initiative on Supporting Africa’s Industrialization. Second, China will launch the Plan for China Supporting Africa’s Agricultural Modernization. Third, China will launch the Plan for China-Africa Cooperation on Talent Development.
The African leaders spoke highly of the China-Africa Leaders’ Dialogue co-hosted by China and South Africa, and thanked China for supporting African integration and assisting African countries in times of need. The African side highly commended and welcomed the new initiatives put forth by President Xi Jinping, namely, the Initiative on Supporting Africa’s Industrialization, the Plan for China Supporting Africa’s Agricultural Modernization, and the Plan for China-Africa Cooperation on Talent Development.
Up and Out of Poverty Hausa Edition launched in Abuja
…As China-Nigeria Seminar on Governance held in Nation’s Capital
The launching of the Hausa Edition of Up and Out of Poverty and China-Nigeria Seminar on Governance took place in Abuja, the nation’s capital on August 21, 2023.
During the ceremony, guests from China and Nigeria jointly unveiled the Hausa version of the new book, ‘Up and Out of Poverty,’ and China presented the new book to the Nigeria side. After the ceremony, experts and scholars from both countries conducted exchanges and discussions on the experience of China and Nigeria in governing the country.
The guests, experts and scholars at the meeting believed that the world today is facing various severe challenges such as extreme poverty and food security, and developing countries, including Nigeria, urgently needed to find a development path that suits their respective national conditions.
Participants said that both China and Nigeria are developing countries with large populations and dynamic emerging market countries and concluded that the two countries have many common languages in terms of governance, deepening poverty reduction and development cooperation.
Zungeru Hydropower Project: China-Nigeria Partnership at its Best
The Zungeru hydropower project, located on the Kaduna River in Niger State, Nigeria, is a 700MW hydroelectric facility built by a Chinese consortium comprising Sinohydro Corporation Limited and China National Electric Engineering Company. The project which costs about $1.3bn (₦162.9 billion), is the biggest power project completed in Nigeria in the past ten years and one of the biggest power projects in Africa to avail preferential loan facility from the Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank) of China.
The project is designed to generate 2,630 GWh energy with a total installed capacity of 700MW. The main components of the Zungeru hydropower project include a 2,400m roller-compacted concrete (RCC) gravity feed dam, an underground powerhouse located behind the RCC dam, a tailrace channel, and two switchyards on both banks of the river.
The Zungeru project is estimated to generate 2.64 billion kWh of electricity annually, which will meet close to 10 percent of Nigeria’s total domestic energy needs. It will also provide flood control, irrigation, as well as water supply and fish breeding facilities.
The construction works on the power plant started in May 2013 and were expected to take 60 months for completion with an initial completion date of 2018. However, legal and financial challenges related to ecological settlement in the affected area delayed the project commissioning to 2021. The global pandemic COVID-19 further delayed the construction period as the site was shut down from operation in the year 2020 during the peak of the pandemic.
The engineering, procurement, and construction contract was awarded to a Chinese consortium comprising China National Electric Engineering Company (CNEEC) and Sinohydro. The consortium of Sinohydro and CNEEC was also awarded the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for the project in October 2012.
10th Anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative: New Opportunities for the World
Opening up to the outside world is China’s basic national policy, and the process of promoting the high-quality development of the joint construction of the “Belt and Road” is the process of promoting high-level opening up. The joint construction of the “Belt and Road” initiative has become an open and global cooperation platform that transcends geographical restrictions, breaks through cultural differences, and integrates development needs, and will make a solid contribution to the recovery of the world economy. Up to now, the “Belt and Road” construction has achieved fruitful results, and the joint construction of the “Belt and Road” has become a popular international public product and international cooperation platform, covering two-thirds of the countries and one-third of the international organizations in the world. China has been deeply integrated into a new huge international system, and has formed a pattern of opening up to the outside world on a larger scale, in a wider field, and at a deeper level.
The deepest international background of the joint construction of the “Belt and Road” initiative is contemporary globalization. Today, deficits in peace, development, security, and governance are all increasing, and human society is facing unprecedented common challenges.
The Current Situation in the South China Sea Region
Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, exchanged views with political dignitaries of Singapore and Malaysia on the current situation in the South China Sea and staked out China’s position during his visit to the two countries.
Wang said: “Thanks to the joint efforts of China and ASEAN, the situation in the South China Sea has been generally stable over the years, providing a favourable environment for respective development. However, the United States and some other forces wish nothing but chaos in the South China Sea and keep stirring up trouble in this sea area. Recently, the United States fanned up the flames over the Ren’ai Jiao dispute, provoked discord and incited confrontation between China and the Philippines, and disrupted the peace and tranquility of the South China Sea, to serve the United States’ own geopolitical strategy.”
Wang further told the political dignitaries from Singapore and Malaysia that China hopes that regional countries will maintain necessary vigilance against the evil claws behind the scenes and hold the initiative of maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea in their own hands.
“China has repeatedly expressed its willingness to properly handle existing differences with the Philippines through bilateral dialogue. China hopes that the Philippines will abide by the common understandings reached in the past, cherish the mutual trust accumulated through the improvement of bilateral relations, and work with China in the same direction to seek effective ways to manage the maritime situation as soon as possible,” Wang also said.
