06-20-2012
By Yang Xun
BEIJING, June 20 (People's Daily)--The second China-Africa Young Leaders Forum was held in Beijing International Convention Center and brought together nearly 200 young leaders from China and 38 African countries. The two-day forum enhanced exchanges between young leaders and was dedicated to China-Africa friendship.
On the theme of "China-Africa Cooperation and Youth Development", the forum was concluded with the Beijing Declaration of the second China-Africa Young Leaders Forum. When addressing the closing ceremony of the forum, Ai Ping, deputy head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said "the forum marks a milestone in strengthening China-Africa youth exchanges with richer content and increasingly profound influence".
Chinaand Africa share a long history of traditional friendship, a friendship that has survived and thrived amidst twists and turns. China is sincere in assisting African countries and received broad recognition among young Africans. Lhasa Maria, a member of National People's Assembly of Cape Verde, shared this view. "China helped us build government buildings, national stadium and dams. Their sincerity is there for all people in Cape Verde to see," said she. Like in many other African countries, more and more young people in Cape Verde are encouraged by the government to learn from China's development experience in order to help their country out of poverty.
According to Liao Ken who is the representative of China and deputy director of youth volunteer department of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, China has up till now sent 364 volunteers to 15 African countries and thus contributed a lot to African development. A good case in point is Zhao Haiming, sent to Ethiopia in November 2006, who has helped double the yields of corn from 200 kg to 400 kg per mu (about1/6 acre) by upgrading its seeding and tilling method and thus he was highly spoken of by local people. However, China-Africa cooperation is by no means a one-way assistance. Anthony, a Peking University PhD student from Democratic Republic of Congo, told us that many African students studying here have decided to find a job in China; so they also contributed a lot to China's development with their talents. Besides, African countries are also willing to provide China their natural resources and raw materials so as to support China in playing a bigger role in the international arena.
China-Africa youth exchanges hitched a free ride of China's rising soft power and has been extended to a variety of areas such as culture, education and media. Victorine Sidémého Tomegah-Dogbe, director of the executive office of president of Republic of Togo, spoke positively of Confucius Institutes in Africa and hoped that Chinese language education could be further promoted. Fougbou Djibert Younous, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture of the Republic of Chadexpressed gratitude to China for providing scholarship to more and more African students and helping them further study in China. Bartee, member of Alliance des Forces de Progrès in the Republic of Senegal, and Uwilingiyimana, chairman of the national youth committee of the Republic of Rwanda, stated that cultural exchanges constitute an integral part of our cooperation; Chinese art troupes visited Africa frequently and Africans enjoyed Chinese dancing, acrobatics and movies very much. They also pointed out that we should expand our common ground of values among youth and strengthen our cultural ties so as to beef up our public support to Africa-China relations.
Many young leaders from Africa stated that Africa-China friendly cooperation set a good example to the whole world as China was sincere in its assistance with no political strings attached over the past years. Arthur Béhar, one of the leaders of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, said that African countries deeply appreciated China's assistance in many sectors and China's support in upholding their legitimate rights and interests in international affairs. On the other hand, African countries are also the staunch force in supporting the development of various undertakings of China. They also added that youth from both sides should take up their responsibility and elevate Africa-China mutually beneficial cooperation to a new height for the time being and for the time to come.
