The Chinese government on Wednesday promised to sustain its high-level cooperation with Africa to strengthen the relationship between them.

Its government officials disclosed this while briefing journalists as part of activities at the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation which started from September 4.

The summit holding in Beijing, China is expected to end on September 6.

The officials included Deputy Director-General, Department of Commerce, Hunan Province, Weiping Deng and the Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Office of Hunan Province, China, Dai Zhiguang.

They reiterated Hunan’s cooperation with Africa, saying that strategic steps had been taken by the Chinese government to strengthen the bilateral ties between China and Africa.

The officials said, “Since 2019, Hunan provincial leaders have visited African countries including Kenya, Nigeria, Madagascar, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. This has been so far possible through high-level meetings with African nations who organise economic and trade cooperation forums and the signing of the sister-city agreements. Hunan has engaged in comprehensive, multi-layered exchanges and cooperation, thus strengthening traditional friendships, enhancing political thrust and collaborative development.”

They recalled that the province had earlier hosted eight African countries which included Uganda, Malawi, Burundi and Morocco to advance the friendly cooperative relationship between Hunan and Africa.

They also said that the third China-Africa Economic Trade Expo held from June 29 to July 2, 2023 in Changsha, Hunan Province, helped to boost efforts by the province toward deepening its cooperation with Africa.

They commended Hunan’s trade volume with Africa which reached 55.67 billion Yuan and approximately $7.83 billion in 2023, adding that more would be done to improve on such feats. 

 (NAN)