Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao called on Thursday for joint efforts
to build a new type of strategic partnership between China and
Africa.
"China will continue to work with Africa and make innovative
efforts in keeping with the trend of the times to widen our
cooperation and enrich and inject new vitality into it," the
Chinese president said when addressing the National Assembly in the
Nigerian capital of Abuja.
Hu made his remarks on the second day of a two-day visit to the
west African country at the invitation of Nigerian President,
Olusegun Obasanjo.?
Five-point proposal on promoting China-Africa strategic
partnership
Earlier this year, Hu said, the Chinese government issued
China's African Policy, spelling out the goals of carrying forward
the traditional Chinese-African friendship and building a new type
of strategic partnership for a new era.
In order to achieve this goal Hu put forward a five-point
proposal in his speech entitled "Work Together to Forge aNew Type
of China-Africa Strategic Partnership."
-- To build a new type of strategic partnership China and Africa
should strengthen political mutual trust.
"China will maintain close contact with African countries at
leadership level and promote communication and exchanges between
governments, parliaments, political parties and non-governmental
organizations of our two sides to enhance mutual understanding and
friendship," Hu said.
"China is committed to the effective function of the Forum of
China-Africa Cooperation and will continue to enhance its
cooperation with the African Union and other sub-regional
organizations and regional multilateral institutions in Africa to
strengthen collective dialogue, broaden consensus and expand common
interests," the president said.
-- China and Africa should expand win-win economic
cooperation.
With rich resources and market potential on Africa's part and
available, effective practices and practical know-how gained in the
course of modernization on China's part cooperation between the two
countries had broad prospects, Hu observed.
"To enlarge the scope of China-Africa cooperation and diversify
ways of conducting such cooperation and enable both sides to draw
on their comparative strengths is in our mutual interests," said
the Chinese president.
"China will make continued efforts to extend our cooperation in
trade to investment, technology and project contracting and to
encourage companies and other economic entities to join our
governments in conducting economic cooperation," the president
added.
Reiterating China's commitment to providing assistance to
African countries to the best of its ability, Hu said China would
also pay more attention to knowledge-based cooperation with
Africa.
-- To build a new type of strategic partnership China and Africa
should increase cultural interaction.
Both were home to splendid cultures. China and Africa had made
important contributions to the progress of human civilization, Hu
said, adding that the countries should strengthen cultural
exchanges and draw on each other's culture to increase mutual
understanding and friendship.
"China supports enhanced cooperation between cultural
institutions, media, academic groups and institutions of higher
learning of the two sides and would be happy to host cultural
festivals, arts exhibitions and sports events with Africa," Hu
said.
-- To build a new type of strategic partnership China and Africa
should strengthen security cooperation.
Hu said China and African should strengthen exchanges and
consultation and promote collective security in the international
community and a new security concept featuring mutual trust, mutual
benefit, equality and cooperation.
"To jointly meet global challenges, China will strengthen
consultation and cooperation with Africa in non-traditional
security areas such as the prevention and control of major
infectious diseases, bird flu and the fight against transnational
crimes," Hu said.
China supported the African Union and other regional
organizations and countries in Africa in their efforts to promote
regional peace and would increase its input and take an active part
in the UN-led peacekeeping operations in Africa, he added.
"China is ready to play a constructive role and help the African
countries settle their differences and disputes," Hu said.
-- In order to build a new type of strategic partnership China
and Africa should maintain close coordination in international
affairs.
Reaffirming China's appreciation for the important role played
by Africa in international affairs, Hu said China and Africa shared
extensive common positions and had a good tradition of cooperation
on major international issues.
"To strengthen coordination and cooperation in major
international affairs meets our mutual interests," he said.
"China will continue to take an active part in the building of a
New Asia-Africa Strategic Partnership and other mechanisms for
South-South Cooperation and North-South Dialogue," Hu said.
Africa's hopes for peace and development deserved respect and
the international community should be more focused on development
and increase assistance to Africa, said the Chinese president.
China would continue to work for more progress in UN reform to
make the organization place greater emphasis on development issues
and address as a top priority the under-representation of
developing countries, including African countries, he
said.?
In his speech, the Chinese president also reviewed the
time-honored friendship as the year of 2006 marks the 50th
anniversary of the inauguration of diplomatic relations between the
People's Republic of China and African countries.
Over the past 50 years, China and Africa have increased mutual
understanding, supported and helped each other, fostered profound
friendship and fruitful progress has been made in China-Africa
cooperation, Hu said.
China would like to carry on the traditional friendship with
Africa, strengthen comprehensive cooperation and endeavor to forge
a new type of strategic partnership between China and Africa, the
president said.
China committed to safeguarding world
peace
?
In his speech, President Hu said China was committed to
safeguarding world peace and would work with other countries to
enhance global security and stability.
"To China its own development is an integral part of the
progress of mankind," he said. "China will develop itself by
maintaining a peaceful international environment and its own
development, in turn, enables China to promote world
peace."?
The Chinese people will hold high the banner of peace,
development and cooperation, pursue an independent foreign policy
of peace, peaceful development and continue the opening-up strategy
for mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, the Chinese president
said.
He noted that China was committed to pursuing common
development.
"China draws on progress in world economic and scientific
development to develop itself," he said. "With its own development
it in turn makes due contribution to the world."?
President Hu said China would continue to work for economic
globalization to develop in a more balanced way and bring benefit
to all.
He added that China was committed to promoting exchanges among
civilizations saying, "China is firm in upholding the diversity of
the world and diversified models of development.
"Countries should respect and learn from each other and
different civilizations should coexist in harmony, benefit from
each other through exchanges and competition and seek common
development by expanding common ground and shelving differences,"
said the president.
History has proved and would continue to prove that China's
development was peaceful, open and cooperative in nature, said Hu.
"China's development will not pose a threat to anyone. On the
contrary it will bring more development opportunities to the word,"
he said.
President Hu arrived on Wednesday for his first state visit to
the west African country.
The Chinese president met his Nigerian counterpart Olusegun
Obasanjo on Wednesday and the two leaders agreed to work on a
strategic plan for the future growth of bilateral relations to push
forward the strategic partnership between the two countries.
Chinese President Hu Jintao Thursday ended the two-day state
visit to Nigeria and left for Kenya, the last leg of his current five-nation tour. Hu started the five-nation
tour earlier this month. He has visited the United States, Saudi
Arabia and Morocco.
(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2006)
