Abuja, August 22 (Xinhua) — Capacity building, Accumulating New Forces for China Africa Cooperation – Real, Intimate and Sincere Series of Comments on China Africa Cooperation Part 2
Recently, in the West African country of Nigeria, the first batch of more than 400 students from the Federal Transport University of Nigeria, which was invested and constructed by Chinese enterprises, completed their first semester of study. Some students will use the summer vacation to carry out practical activities at the rail transit project site of China Civil Engineering Nigeria Co., Ltd., relying on China’s “Dream Building Silk Road” youth development plan and other initiatives, to enhance their skills.
Building a transportation university in my hometown will turn more people’s dreams into reality. “Aba Haruna Modu, a local engineer at the North Region Management Department of CCECC Nigeria Limited, participated in the construction of the Federal Transportation University of Nigeria. In his opinion, cultivating talents is the key to the development of his hometown.
Cultivating more talents for the future of Africa is a consistent measure taken by China to support Africa’s development. At the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China Africa Cooperation held in November 2021, China proposed to closely cooperate with African countries to jointly implement the “Nine Projects”, including capacity building projects. The capacity building project includes China’s assistance in building or upgrading 10 schools in Africa and inviting 10000 high-end African talents to participate in training and seminar activities. Implement the “Future Africa China Africa Vocational Education Cooperation Plan” and carry out activities such as the “African Student Employment Express”.
At Tianjin Vocational and Technical Normal University, a teacher led Han Shilan (first from the right) and other international students to conduct practical training operations (photo taken on July 29, 2022). Han Shilan comes from Ethiopia. During her studies in Tianjin, Han Shilan actively utilized the advanced vocational education practice conditions of the school to focus on research in the fields of artificial intelligence manufacturing and industrial robots. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Ran
Last August, the China Africa Leaders’ Dialogue was held during the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. After the meeting, China released three measures to support African integration and modernization, and the “China Africa Talent Training Cooperation Plan” is one of them. The plan emphasizes that the key to the development and revitalization of China and Africa lies in transforming the massive population into abundant human resources, and using talent dividends to support the country’s modernization development. China will continue to strengthen cooperation with Africa in capacity building such as technology transfer and education and training.
Teaching people how to fish is better than giving them fish. From the “Luban Workshop” focusing on the cultivation of applied skills to the Confucius Institute to promote cross-cultural exchanges, from the implementation of the “China Africa University 100 Cooperation Plan” and the “the Belt and Road” teacher growth plan, to the training of 10000 local composite talents through the “Chinese+vocational skills” education, China Africa cooperation in capacity building is injecting endogenous impetus into Africa’s development.
Nowadays, Nigerian female train drivers trained by China can drive Chinese made high-speed trains on the Lagos Light Rail Blue Line constructed by Chinese enterprises; The medical personnel trained in cooperation between China and Comoros have saved the lives of many malaria patients; Tanzanian students who have returned from studying in China are dedicating themselves to agricultural work, cultivating hope on the land of East Africa… Their dreams of making a name for themselves have become a reality through cooperation in capacity building between China and Africa.
The cooperation in capacity building between China and Africa always starts from the actual needs of Africa, truly “thinking what Africa thinks and being urgent to Africa”, and carries out cooperation on the premise of mutual respect. Faced with the reality of a large proportion of young people and relatively low education levels in Africa as a whole, China has sincerely shared its experience in utilizing the demographic dividend with Africa based on its own development practice. Starting from the basic links and practical projects, China has been down-to-earth in helping Africa cultivate various talents, without attaching ideological conditions and restrictions, respecting the independent choices of African countries, and winning universal recognition from African countries. It has also laid a foundation of mutual trust for long-term cooperation in capacity building.
On June 3, 2024, in Kitwe, Copperbelt Province, Zambia, Zambian employees participated in training at the China Nonferrous Metals Mining Company Mining Skills Training School using virtual technology equipment. Xinhua News Agency (photo provided by Zhongse Africa Mining Co., Ltd.)
Looking to the future, China Africa capacity building cooperation is expanding into new fields and reaching new levels. In recent years, China has helped Africa cultivate a large number of scientific and technological talents through the implementation of the “the Belt and Road” International Science Organization Alliance Scholarship, the Chinese Government Scholarship, the “International Outstanding Youth Plan”, the “International Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Plan” and other projects. The “China Africa Talent Training Cooperation Plan” proposes to carry out a work plan for young African scientists to come to China. China and Africa will jointly cultivate various talents who are oriented towards modernization of governance capacity, economic and social development, technological innovation and efficiency improvement, and improvement of people’s livelihoods, to support the human capital development goals of the first ten-year plan of the African Union’s “Agenda 2063”. China Africa capacity building cooperation is bearing fruit in areas such as digital economy, cutting-edge technology, and social governance, contributing to the development and revitalization of Africa.
Guided by the global development initiative and the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind, capacity building is promoting the joint construction of a development community between China and Africa. The capacity building cooperation between China and Africa focuses on “people-oriented” and comprehensive human development, committed to ensuring that everyone has equal opportunities for development, self realization, and dream pursuit. Believe that every little dream will eventually converge into a magnificent new force for China Africa cooperation.