SHANGHAI, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — “I am truly impressed by China's efforts in promoting sustainable development. This is a lesson that many African countries, especially Kenya, need to learn,” said Beatrice Elachi, a member of the National Assembly of Kenya's Parliament and secretary-general of the Kenyan branch of the China-Africa Friendship Association.
Elachi made the remarks at the 2024 Legislators' Forum for Friendly Exchanges, held in Shanghai, China's eastern metropolis, on Tuesday, bringing together 49 legislators from 43 countries around the world to discuss the theme of “Revitalizing the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.”
Africa is an important partner of China in implementing the Global Development Initiative. At the forum, African participants said that China-Africa cooperation plays an important role in Africa's development and African countries can learn from China's experience in sustainable development.
Infrastructure is a solid foundation for development. As an old Chinese saying goes, “to get rich, you have to build roads.” Over the years, through the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and the Belt and Road Initiative, China has firmly supported African countries in improving infrastructure and connectivity.
“The infrastructure built by China, especially in the transport sector, is essential for the sustainable development of Africa,” noted Jaafaru Yakubu, chairman of the Nigeria-China Relations Committee of the Nigerian House of Representatives, adding that such cooperation had created development opportunities for the continent.
From the Mombasa-Nairobi railway in Kenya to the Kribi deep-sea port in Cameroon to the Kafue Gorge Lower hydropower plant in Zambia, China and African countries have worked together in recent years to build and improve nearly 100,000 kilometers of roads, more than 10,000 kilometers of railways, nearly 1,000 bridges and nearly 100 ports.
Poverty eradication is also a common aspiration of the African people. “Within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals, the fight against poverty is one of the most important challenges facing several countries in the world, including my country, Algeria,” said Mawloud Layeb, member of the National People’s Assembly of Algeria.
From the ten cooperation plans to the nine China-Africa cooperation programs, poverty reduction has always been an important part, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian at a regular press briefing.
In recent years, China has implemented 47 poverty alleviation and agricultural development projects, trained nearly 9,000 people in agriculture, and shared more than 300 advanced and applicable technologies, which have benefited more than 1 million rural households in Africa. China's Juncao technology and hybrid rice have become a symbol of agricultural cooperation.
“China and Sierra Leone are working together remarkably in poverty alleviation and food security,” said Benjamin Turay, a member of the Sierra Leonean Parliament, calling for more extensive cooperation in education and vocational training.
According to him, youth are the future of a country. “In any country that wants to develop, promoting education should be a priority, which can help to some extent to make up for the backwardness of a country.”
This is in line with China's long-standing philosophy: “It is more important to show people how to fish than to give them fish.” Talent training for Africa remains an important Chinese initiative in its contribution to Africa's sustainable development.
As an internationally renowned label of Chinese vocational education, the construction of Luban Workshop has shown great vitality. Currently, China has built 17 Luban Workshops in 15 African countries including Egypt, South Africa and Burkina Faso, training African talents in telecommunications, intelligent manufacturing, e-commerce and other fields.
Pursuing development in a green and environmentally friendly way is one of the key topics of the forum and one of the issues currently being addressed by countries around the world striving to achieve sustainable development.
Visiting Shanghai for the first time, Jaafaru Yakubu was struck by the fusion of modernity and environmental preservation within the city. “This city of nearly 25 million people is the economic and commercial center of China, but it strives to be environmentally friendly.”
Chongming Dongtan National Nature Reserve in Shanghai was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July this year. During her visit to the reserve, Beatrice Elachi learned about China's efforts in environmental protection in recent years.
“China is actively promoting its development while remaining very serious about ecology,” she said during her visit, which was not her first to the country. Speaking of the changes, she was especially impressed by the increasing number of clean energy projects, the gradual improvement in the quality of water resources, and the increase in green coverage.
According to her, China's advanced irrigation technology can help Kenya improve the condition of dry lands, with the two sides having great potential for cooperation in this area.
“China is a large developing country with a population of 1.4 billion, yet it is at the forefront of the world in ecological protection, pollution prevention and waste classification. All developing countries should learn from this to develop South-South cooperation for a more sustainable future,” she continued.
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