China not to weaken support for Africa: FM

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets the press on the sidelines of the national legislature annual session in Beijing, on March 8, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua]

There will be no weakening in China's support for Africa no matter how the international situation or world economy may evolve, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Wednesday.

China and Africa have a shared future and their cooperation is like mutual help between brothers, Wang told a press conference on the sidelines of the national legislature's annual session.

China announced 60 billion U.S. dollars funding support for Africa at the summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in December 2015 held in South Africa's Johannesburg.

"What distinguishes China-Africa cooperation is that China always keeps its words," Wang said, adding that so far nearly half of the promised funding support has been disbursed or arranged.

Wang said the outcomes of the Johannesburg summit are being implemented in a swift and all-round way, including railway projects in Ethopia, Djibouti and Kenya, as well as a special economic zone in the Republic of Congo, an integrated port development project in Tanzania and a number of industrial parks across Africa.

Responding to Africa's needs, China-Africa cooperation is undergoing three shifts, namely from government-driven to market-driven, from trading goods to cooperation on production capacity, and from engineering contracts to capital investment and operations.

"The shifts will provide new momentum and opportunities for Africa's sustainable development," Wang said.

"We need to speed up work and undertake more cooperation projects," the foreign minister said.

Just as China was Africa's most sincere friend in its quest for national independence and liberation, so China will be Africa's most reliable partner in speeding up industrialization and agricultural modernization, and boosting its capacity for home-grown development, Wang added.