VP speaks for Seychelles at key China-Africa forum
25.11.2009
Vice-President Joseph Belmont was one of 17 African leaders who took part in the fourth ministerial meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
At the meeting, a new China-Africa partnership to address climate change was proposed as one of eight measures aimed at consolidating and extending cooperation during the next three years.
The gathering on November 8 and 9 was seen as the most important of its kind since the China-Africa Summit held in Beijing in November 2006, which was attended by President James Michel.
As part of the eight measures announced by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, China will hold senior officials’ consultations with African countries to enhance cooperation on satellite weather monitoring, development and use of new energy sources, prevention and control of desertification, and urban environmental protection.
China has also decided to build 100 clean energy projects for Africa covering solar power, biogas and small hydro-power.
Other measures include enhancing cooperation with Africa in science and technology, launching a China-Africa science and technology partnership under which 100 joint demonstration projects on scientific and technological research will be carried out, and helping Africa build up financing capacity.
China will provide US $10 billion in concessional loans to African countries and support Chinese financial institutions in setting up a US $1 billion special loan for small and medium-sized African businesses.
It was also announced that China will further open up its market to African products and enhance cooperation in agriculture. It will strengthen cooperation in medical care and health, as well as in human resources development and education.
In this framework, China will build 50 China-Africa friendship schools and train 1,500 school principals and teachers for African countries.
By 2012, it will increase the number of Chinese government scholarships to Africa to 5,500 and will train a total of 20,000 professionals in various fields for Africa over the next three years.
Finally, China will expand people-to-people and cultural exchanges, through the launch of a China-Africa joint research and exchange programme, which will enable scholars and think-tanks to work more closely together, share development experience and provide intellectual support to draw up better cooperation policies.
In his speech during the opening ceremony, Mr Belmont expressed his gratitude on behalf of the government and people of Seychelles for the help China has given in the context of the Beijing Plan of Action 2006-2009.
He also thanked China for its support this year to the Indian Ocean Commission, following a request made by Seychelles when it chaired the commission two years ago.
Mr Belmont also drew the attention of the forum to issues related to:
● Piracy, stressing in particular the need to keep maritime routes between Africa and China open and safe at all times;
● The vulnerability of small island states;
● Climate change and the hope of African countries that China will play a major role as a consensus builder at the Copenhagen conference next month, advocating the cause of developing countries;
● The importance for African countries of having access to technologies developed in China to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and rely more on renewable energy.
At the end of the conference it was announced that the forum’s fifth ministerial meeting will be held in Beijing in 2012. South Africa has offered to host the sixth meeting in 2015.