Last week, China hosted two critical meetings with African leaders and media practitioners in a bid to enhance ties between Beijing and the African continent.
In the Great Hall of the People, Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted more than 50 African leaders during the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
The meeting, hailed as a major success in strengthening trade and bilateral relations between China and Africa, achieved critical milestones.
China agreed to spend more than 50 billion dollars on various projects and programmes in Africa in the next three years.
While this was happening, more than 30 media practitioners from Africa were hosted by the China Media Group (CMG) in an event dubbed: A Civilization Symphony and a Digital Dream-Builder: “African Partners’ at the CMG headquarters in Beijing, China.
The meeting discussed various approaches to enhance cultural exchange programmes and bolster media cooperation between China and Africa in the digital age.
Apart from media practitioners from 20 African countries, the meeting was also attended by thought leaders and representatives from various international organizations.
Under the new platform, CMG is counting on a network of more than 320 African cooperation resources to enhance cross-cultural communication and advance a “5G+4K and 8K+AI” technology to improve media quality and productivity between China and Africa.
Chinese Vice Minister of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party and President of CMG Shen Haixiong in his remarks noted that China’s ongoing comprehensive reforms are bound to create new opportunities for strengthening the China-Africa comprehensive strategic partnership.
Shen added that CMG aims to bridge cultural exchanges between China and Africa and promote these narratives globally.
The media practitioners visited various cities in China like Changsha and Changde in Hunan province to understand China’s poverty alleviation mechanism and industrial development.
Some of the areas visited include the Sany Xingsha Industrial Park, home to the Sany group which is one of the world’s biggest construction machinery company.
Members of the press were taken through various groundbreaking innovations by the company and its push to go green using the lithium ion technology.
The press team also toured the world famous Qinxi village, which is a success story of China’s poverty alleviation mechanism.
The team also toured the restored Shibadong village which has managed to end extreme poverty in the last ten years under the leadership of President Xi Jinping.
The trip ended on a high note with a visit to the Aizhai suspension bridge which is a testament to China’s engineering marvel and breakthrough which opened to the public 12 years ago.
As the two meetings concluded, it was evident that collaboration rather than confrontation will be the centre point of global development in the coming years.
And just like the Chinese president said during the FOCAC meeting, Africa and China should strive to create a win-win platform for the two regions to enjoy fast socio-economic development that leaves no one behind.
