Political parties in Africa, China convene seminar to share experience

Political parties from African countries and China have convened a seminar to exchange experiences that help driving socioeconomic development and prosperity in their respective countries.

The high-level seminar was held on Tuesday in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, bringing together delegations of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and representatives of political parties from African countries including Ethiopia, Rwanda, Namibia, Tanzania, Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Sudan and Uganda.

In his remarks at the opening of the seminar, Ai Ping, representative of Chinese delegation, said the CPC carries out various forms of exchanges with over 80 political parties in more than 40 African countries.

"But, it is the first time for us to sit together on the African continent and discuss in-depth major theoretical issues," said Ai.

He said the seminar is important towards sharing experience and lessons in development so that inter-party exchanges can serve the respective parties' work and plans more effectively.

Demeke Mekonnen, Ethiopia's Deputy Prime Minister and the Deputy Chairperson of Ethiopia's ruling party EPRDF, said the cooperation between African political parties and CPC has been consolidating over time with a number of experience exchanges in many fields.

The successful changes in Chinese economic and political spheres are directly linked to the unreserved commitment and righteous leadership of the CPC, said Demeke, it is wise to draw lessons from the successful practice of the CPC.

"The China-Africa cooperation has been dramatically improving. More importantly, this partnership stems from our mutual benefits where we both are benefiting," he said. "And yet we need to further expand our partnership so as to maximize our mutual benefits."

Attending the seminar, Tanzania's ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) Vice Chairman Philip Mangula said African political parties have a lot to learn from CPC.

He said Tanzania's CCM has been working closely with the CPC, whereby they have had several exchanges of high-level visits.

The seminar was held with expected outcomes of profound suggestions and the way forward towards strengthening the partnership and cooperation among the political parties.

One of the expected outcomes was to set up regular and continuous experience sharing mechanisms.