Excellencies.

Distinguished guests, ladies, and gentlemen,

Good afternoon! on behalf of the Ethiopian government, The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Ministry of Industry and myself, I would like to welcome you to this important Forum. It is indeed an honor and great pleasure for me to deliver the keynote speech on the “Second Forum on China and International Development Forum 2022”.

 

The Summit with “New Era of China-Africa Development: Journey to All-round Cooperation” as a theme, the forum will invite senior officials from China Ministry of Foreign Affairs , China Ministry of commerce, Ambassadors of invited countries, Scholars as well as international organization to share their strategies views, policies, practices and experiences in supporting the mutual cooperation of China-Africa. I hope the Forum will have a positive impact on the China-Africa comprehensive cooperation and will contribute to the journey of high-quality development of China-Africa cooperation.

 

Excellencies.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

China and Africa have had close friendship since ancient times. China and Africa began direct contacts by sea route as early as in the 7th century. Since then, trade and cultural exchanges between China and Africa have expanded. China–Africa trade has increased more than four times since 2000 when the China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was established.

 

The recentforum of The Eighth Ministerial Conference on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) which held in Senegal at the end of November clearly confirms the positive progress on the cooperation between the regions since the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2000. The forum also adopted the 2035 Vision for China-Africa Cooperation.

 

As his excellency Mr.  Qian Keming, Chinese Deputy Minister of Commerce said that trade between China and Africa rose 38.2 percent year on year to 185.2 billion U.S. dollars in the January-September period, reaching the highest level in history for the same period,

 

Chinese enterprises signed 53.5 billion U.S. dollars in new contracts in Africa in the period, up 22.2 percent year on year, with a turnover of 26.9 billion U.S. dollars, up 11.6 percent year on year. These above figures fully show the confidence of Chinese enterprises in Africa's future development.

 

During the forum President Xi also addressed in his speech how China is dedicated to further strengthen the cooperation and will work closely with African countries to realize the China-Africa Cooperation Vision 2035, by implementing nine programs namely, the medical and health program, the poverty reduction and agricultural development program, the trade promotion program, the investment promotion program, the digital innovation program, the green development program, the capacity building program, the cultural and people-to-people exchange program, and the peace and security program.

 

China and Africa will work closely to further upgrade and improve the quality of China-Africa cooperation. To this end, the two sides will implement the nine programs. On the African side, greater efforts are needed to expand opportunities for technology-intensive manufacturing and strengthen the regional integration.

 

Ethiopia and China are time-tested good friends and partners. Ethiopia is an important country participating in the “Belt and Road” initiative, and one of the demonstration countries for China-Africa Capacity Cooperation.

 

In recent years, the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries has been deepened. We are strong partners in terms of addressing bilateral issues as well as resolving regional and global issues, and our friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation has covered every aspect in the economic and social development of Africa, particularly Ethiopia.

 

Finally, I would also like to thank the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, MOFCOM Institute of International Development Cooperation, Institute of West Asian and African Studies for organizing this timely important forum.

 

Thus, I hope you find the forum enjoyable and informative, so it gives you an opportunity to bring a new idea to further strengthen the China-Africa cooperation.

 

I wish you a pleasant Forum.

Thank you!

Mr. Teka Gebreyesus, Minister of Trade and Industry, Ethiopia