Vice-president calls on two sides to boost cooperation, build consensus

Vice-President Wang Qishan called on China and Africa on Monday to align thoughts, build consensus and strengthen cooperation to implement the outcomes of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

Wang made the remarks at a group meeting with the heads of African delegations attending the Coordinators' Meeting on the Implementation of the Follow-up Actions of the Beijing Summit of the FOCAC in Beijing.

The two-day meeting has gathered over 80 African ministerial-level officials from 53 countries.

Wang said it is a major event marking China-Africa relations this year, and both sides should push the China-Africa comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation to a new level and build a closer China-Africa community with a shared future.

With efforts of several generations of Chinese and African leaders and people of both sides, Sino-African ties have been stronger than ever, with remarkable achievements seen, he said.

The meeting came nearly a year after the Beijing summit, which rolled out major initiatives on industrial promotion, infrastructure connectivity, trade facilitation, green development, capacity building, healthcare, people-to-people exchanges and peace and security.

Also on Monday, major Chinese financial institutions discussed with African delegates how to better use China's financing tools to boost economic development.

Liu Yong, chief economist at China Development Bank, said that China would provide strong financial support for high-quality economic development in Africa. Both sides should continue to expand cooperation in financial fields and constantly upgrade the level of cooperation.

In 2018, two-way trade between China and Africa reached $204.2 billion, up 20 percent year-on-year. China has been Africa's largest trading partner for 10 consecutive years, he said.

He added that African countries could use China's experiences, technologies and funds, combined with their own abundant human resources, to improve livelihoods of Africans, and to inject new energy into the acceleration and efficiency of China-Africa cooperation.

Zhang Xuguang, executive vice-president of China Development Bank, said that by the end of 2018, the bank had provided a total of more than $60 billion in financing to nearly 500 projects in 43 African countries in sectors including infrastructure, energy, transportation and agriculture.

Zhang said the bank will continue to provide sustainable financing to African countries and develop more financing products based on China's experiences and African countries' specific situations.

Liberian Foreign Minister Gbehzohngar Milton Findley said that for his country, infrastructure, agriculture and communications are the key sectors in which he would like to see more improvement and increased cooperation with China.

Contact the writers at zhoujin@chinadaily.com.cn