Bience Gawanas: China provides significant support to African countries

"The role of China in supporting the work of the African Union and its African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), under the umbrella of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative, is very significant, particularly in infrastructure,” said Bience Gawanas, Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser of the United Nations Secretary-General on Africa, at the 2019 FOCAC Africa-China Poverty Reduction and Development Conference held in Kampala, Uganda, on November 28, 2019.

She emphasized that success in reducing poverty is one area where China has much to share regarding its own experiences over the past few decades. China’s engagement in Africa can remain responsive to the changing needs of African countries as they implement the priority actions related to Agenda 2063 and the SDGs.

“China’s role in supporting the priorities of African countries and the African Union continues to increase in relevance,” she said.

Gawanas pointed out that Chinese investment and trade in Africa has grown rapidly in recent years, with the total reaching some US$204 billion in 2018, 20 times that in 2000.

“China’s engagement with African countries should promote the integration of aid, investment, and trade, and facilitate public-private partnerships, in order to ensure inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction through job creation and export-led industrialization, and faster technology transfer across Africa,” she added.

She pointed out that capacity-building and learning opportunities through the transfer of knowledge and expertise between China and local communities should be encouraged. China can support the development of African country-led systems for data collection, quality assessment, monitoring and evaluation, as well as methodologies and statistics to measure the impact of China’s engagement in African countries in keeping with the principles of South-South Cooperation.

“Through its funds, programmes, specialized agencies, resident coordinators and regional commissions, includingits country teams,the United Nations will continue to support and promote South-South Cooperation, in particular China-Africa cooperation,” she said.