More China-Africa cooperation urged

At an unprecedented virtual forum hosted by the Africa Policy Institute in Nairobi on Tuesday in collaboration with the Chinese embassy in Kenya, experts from across the African continent and China called for enhanced China-Africa cooperation to spur manufacturing and improve the response to COVID-19.

In their submissions, experts from various African countries including South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Kenya, who were joined by their counterparts from China, stressed the importance of manufacturing as a catalyst for lifting Africa out of poverty and maintaining fruitful cooperation between Africa and China.

Welcoming the delegates to the virtual conference that concluded on Wednesday, Peter Kagwanja, the chief executive officer of the Africa Policy Institute, said that the forum could not have come at a better time because the coronavirus pandemic had greatly impacted Africa’s manufacturing sector, which had been slowed down by restrictions to curb the virus.

“Africa and China need to scale up their cooperation in industrialization and manufacturing as a necessary step toward a post-COVID-19 recovery agenda. As a result of the pandemic, more than 70 percent of the working age population in Africa has been left with no job security or are unemployed, pushing the poverty rate higher,” Kagwanja said.

In this regard, Kagwanja said that the 40 African and 15 Chinese policymakers, diplomats and scholars who made submissions at the two-day virtual conference tried to explore innovative ways to boost China-Africa industrial cooperation, which will hasten the post-COVID-19 recovery.

Robust collaboration

Echoing Kagwanja’s sentiments, Zhao Xiyuan, charge d’affaires of the Chinese embassy in Kenya, said that COVID-19 had presented an opportunity for robust China-Africa cooperation to fight the disease and restore livelihoods through improving manufacturing.

Zhao said that through China’s Belt and Road Initiative, it was possible to assist Africa’s post-pandemic industrial recovery, noting that China had stood with Africa through the pandemic by sharing its COVID19 experience with African countries through expert groups, holding video conferences between experts, training local medical staff and helping to draw up preventive plans.

Speaking about the opportunities and challenges of China-Africa cooperation in manufacturing, Liu Dong, a Chinese scholar, called for increased cooperation in developing Africa’s infrastructure as this would increase the continent’s capacity to explore its resources.

“Hard infrastructure including highways, port facilities, airports, telecommunication systems, electricity grids and other public utilities are important for developing manufacturing in Africa.”

According to David Monyae, a South African scholar, cooperation between China and Africa should also give more emphasis to technology transfer since it is one of the best ways to make Africa’s manufacturing competitive at the global level.

“As a continent we are not on the same page in terms of technological advancement, which is a critical component in improving Africa’s manufacturing,” Monyae said. “There is uneven development in technology among African countries, especially in the agricultural sector, and we have learned from China that you cannot develop the manufacturing sector without developing agriculture.”