By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has hailed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s proposal to raise bilateral relations with African nations to the level of strategic relations as a sign of a common ambition for modernisation, growth and advancement on the African continent.
China upgraded its ties with African countries to a strategic level at the fourth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Focac) Summit in Beijing.
Ramaphosa was delivering the opening address during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Focac) Summit, where he pointed out China’s long history of friendship and solidarity with Africa.
In this spirit, the fourth Focac Summit reflected the cooperative, comprehensive and intentional nature of African countries and China’s cooperation, also reflecting a shared desire for modernisation, development and progress on the African continent, Ramaphosa said.
He added that since this relationship was institutionalised through Focac in 2000, ties between China and Africa had continued to grow and deepen, driven by a desire to achieve shared prosperity while recognising individual developmental aspirations.
“If we are to realise a sustainable future for Africa and China – and indeed the entire world – we must acknowledge the reality of the interdependence among our community of nations,” he said.
Ramaphosa believes that Focac can play an important role as Africa works to build an integrated network of linkages between countries, within regions and across the continent.
He sees Focac as a valuable forum to support the implementation of the African Union’s Agenda 2063, highlighting that Focac takes place as the world experiences many challenges, such as war and conflict and climate change.
“The global contestation for critical minerals is fuelling geopolitical rivalry. These challenges affect all nations but are often most severely felt in Afirca. Yet, amid these challenges, there is hope and opportunity,” Ramaphosa said.
“We believe that this shared desire is reflected in the ten partnership actions on modernisation to be taken by China and Africa, as announced by President Xi,” he explained.
Through the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, Ramaphosa said the economies of Africa were being drawn closer together.