China and South Africa on Sunday launched an initiative on cooperation supporting modernization in Africa.
The initiative was launched on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Johannesburg running from Saturday to Sunday. It builds on commitments made at the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Summit where China announced 10 partnership actions to support Africa's modernization.
This is a cooperation initiative between China and South Africa to support Africa's modernization and encourage the international community to increase attention and investment in Africa.
"The initiative on cooperation supporting modernization in Africa was jointly drafted by China and Africa. [It] bears distinctive African features and charts the cause for Africa's development. Its features include a huge population going together towards the goal of modernization, common prosperity for all. We believe each one should not be left behind, material and cultural ethnic progress, harmony between humanity and nature and very importantly, peaceful development. China has proven through its own practice that modernization is by no means a single-choice question, nor is it a privilege reserved for a small handful of countries," said Zhao Wenfei, Minister Counselor, Chines Embassy in South Africa.
The initiative also calls on other countries to enhance international cooperation on green infrastructure and green mining.
"The initiative comes amid urgent calls for deeper international cooperation in the field of mineral resources. Green and low-carbon development is injecting new impetus into high-quality development of the mineral sector and creating new development opportunities for all countries. The initiative paints a blueprint providing feasible paths towards green sustainable development in mining. It elucidates the concepts of green mining and minerals and identifies seven cooperation areas to share benefits through joint contribution in a flexible, practical manner," said Lin Feng, director general of the International Trade and Economic Affairs under the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
It is an initiative that has the backing of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
"We at UNCTAD are very committed, very supportive of the initiative that has been presented, and especially we have been participating in the green mining and minerals initiative that is so close to what we do. And let me start by saying that somewhere in rural South Africa, tonight, a family will turn on lights powered by the sun. In a village in Ethiopia, a clinic will refrigerate vaccines using battery storage, and Chinese technology and investments have made very important contributions for these awesome possibilities to exist at all," said Rebeca Grynspan, secretary general of UNCTAD.
The details of the initiative and how it will be rolled out have not yet been announced. But its launch is yet another reminder of the increasing cooperation between China and South Africa, whose impact is being felt in both countries and the wider African continent as well.
China, South Africa jointly launch initiative on cooperation supporting modernization in Africa
