WIN-WIN SITUATION
China has emphasized a win-win cooperation strategy with its partners in a bid to seek common development and prosperity.
"The strategy has helped to create fairly rapid, visible and significant transformation in African infrastructure development, igniting industrialization process, economic diversification and transformation through negotiated transfer of technology aimed at establishing sustainable systems and structures," Ikiara said.
"China is against exploitative cut-throat competition pursued by some developed countries at the expense of their partners from the developing world," he said.
The booming infrastructure programs exemplify the win-win cooperation.
"With improved infrastructure and communication system in Africa, both China and African countries reduce their unit cost of operation which itself is a wealth creation," Macharia said.
"This helps to accelerate economic transformation, as the savings in terms of time and finance are plowed back into respective economies," he said.
PROMISING FUTURE DESPITE CHALLENGES
Though China-Africa cooperation is hailed by the two sides, there are challenges.
Ikiara said those challenges include low existing capacity among African countries, socioeconomic uncertainty and political instability.
Moreover, "global propaganda" against China and its relationship with Africa is a challenge which needs to be closely monitored before it causes disruptions, he said.
Facts speak louder than words. China has provided African countries with loans worth over 20 billion U.S. dollars since 2012 to support its infrastructure, investment, small and medium-sized enterprises, agriculture and manufacturing.
The Chinese government also rolled out about 900 assistance programs in Africa covering agriculture, health, education and other fields and offered training to over 30,000 local people since 2012.
China prioritizes the manufacturing sector in its industrial cooperation with Africa to help the continent break from the colonial legacy of being a net exporter of raw materials to that of finished products and services, Chung said.
What's more encouraging is that fresh measures to promote win-win cooperation will be rolled out at the upcoming Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Johannesburg, South Africa, which will be chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to Wang, the Chinese foreign minister.
