The Moroccan delegation, which took part in this meeting devoted to senior officials of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of African countries and China, includes Mr. Mohamed Methqal, Ambassador-Director General of the Moroccan Agency for International Cooperation (AMCI), Ambassador Abderrazzak Laassel, Director of the Greater Maghreb and Arab Maghreb Union and African Union Affairs, Mr. El Moujahid Lahoucine, from the West, Central and South Asia Division, Mr. Mohamed Atlassi, Head of Division at the African Union Directorate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Abroad, as well as the Ambassador of Morocco in Dakar, Mr. Taleb Barrada.
This meeting is part of the eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which is being held from November 28 to 30 at the Abdou Diouf International Conference Center (CICAD) in Diamniadio, located 30 km from Dakar, under the theme “Deepening the China-Africa partnership and promoting sustainable development to build a China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era.”
At the meeting, the experts reviewed and adopted the items on the agenda of the eighth FOCAC ministerial conference, as well as the drafts of the Dakar Declaration, the Action Plan for the 2022-2024 period, the “2035 Vision for China-Africa Cooperation on Cooperation” and the declaration on China-Africa cooperation in combating climate change.
As a prelude to this 8th Forum, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad Aïssata Tall Sall and Wang Yi, State Councilor, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China co-chaired, Sunday in Dakar, the bilateral meeting between Senegal and China.
The opening ceremony of this 8th Ministerial Conference will be co-chaired on Monday by the President of the Republic of Senegal Macky Sall and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping (online), with the participation of the Presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Union of the Comoros, the Republic of South Africa, the African Union Commission and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, according to the organizers.
The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), established in 2000, is a platform for political dialogue within the framework of South-South cooperation and a mechanism for cooperation between China and Africa based on the principle of equality and mutual benefit.
Simultaneously with this 8th forum, the seventh conference of Chinese and African entrepreneurs will be held at the Diamniadio exhibition center, both by videoconference and in person.
Ahead of the Dakar meeting, China’s State Council Information Office on Friday released a white paper detailing the country’s cooperation with Africa in the new era.
The document, titled “China and Africa in the New Era: A Partnership of Equals,” called the meeting an important diplomatic event for China and Africa to discuss cooperation plans and promote common development, and said it will be of great significance in promoting post-pandemic economic recovery and development in Africa, China and the world as a whole.
The two sides will jointly draw up plans and discuss outcomes to be adopted at the meeting on key areas such as health, investment and trade, industrialization, agricultural modernization, climate change response and the digital economy, added the document made public in China and Senegal.
According to the white paper, direct investment by Chinese enterprises in Africa exceeded $43 billion by the end of 2020. It said China had established more than 3,500 enterprises of various types across the continent. Private enterprises have gradually become the main force of investment in Africa. More than 80 percent of their employees are local, and they have directly and indirectly created millions of jobs, the paper noted.
The text adds that China has been Africa’s “largest” trading partner for twelve years, since 2009, noting that “the proportion of Africa’s trade with China in the continent’s total foreign trade has continued to increase and exceeded 21% in 2020.”
2024-08-31 04:34:42