The 2023 Jiangsu-Africa Cooperation Conference came to a close on Friday with Kenya reaffirming its commitment to the Dakar Action Plan of the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and the development pillars of the Global Development Initiative.
The Kenyan delegation led by Brian Wachira Chomba,Second Secretary at the Kenya Embassy in China noted that the initiative will deepen cooperation with Jiangsu, particularly in areas aligned to Kenya’s development agenda most notably Hi-tech agriculture, Industrialization, digital economy, and housing.
“China being a major producer of horticultural products, young educated tech-savvy population, advanced banking, high-level internet infrastructure, and leading clean energy country, Kenya is keen to collaborate with Jiangsu province to further enhance this brotherhood in the spirit of People to People exchange,” Chomba said.
The Kenyan envoy also called on the Chinese provincial governments to take advantage of available opportunities by providing solutions that reach down to the people through President Dr. William Ruto’s Bottom-up Transformation Agenda(BETA) saying Kenya will open tenders in four key areas of national development namely Universal Health Care, Manufacturing, Food Security and Affordable Housing adding that through bilateral relationship build over the years Kenya is committed to building win-win partnerships with China in all aspects of development, economic and trade.
“Kenya has already benefitted from this cooperation through the SGR railway, Mombasa port expansion, several road projects and most recently East Africa’s first elevated express highway. Through the excellent bilateral relationship build over the years, the foundation is set for engagement with the Chinese provincial governments where platforms that bring together professionals from various fields, take advantage of available opportunities by providing solutions that reach down to the people,” Chomba said.
Chinese leaders pledged to deepen the ties and affirming for more engagements with Africa on the development themes discussed in the last Forum for China-Africa Cooperation in Dakar, Senegal. Zhou, Yang Jing – deputy director general of Foreign Affairs office of Jiangsu provincial people’s government, added that Jiangsu will add more to the doctors that will be sent to African hospitals saying this will attract more students to live and acquire education in China.
“We need to keep our ties together, deepen our relationship and communication further this is the success to the principle of shared interest between China and Africa” Yang said.
The meeting also brought together other African envoys in China including Namibia’s Elia Kaiyamo, Phuti Tsipa – consul general of South Africa in Shanghai, Taofik Obasanjo – consul of Education Affairs, Nigeria among other senior Chinese diplomats
African leaders called on Cooperation with Africa in order to achieve the promise of shared prosperity. They say this can only be achieved by advancing the people-to- people contact and promoting culture among member states partnering with China.
