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Remarks at the Meeting with African Youth Representatives
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By Fu Ziying, Vice Minister of Commerce
August 14th, 2009

Good morning to you all. I'm so delighted at this rare opportunity of meeting and talking to so many young friends from Africa. You bring to China passion and friendship from the African people on the other side of the world. Let me start by giving you a warm welcome on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce!

I want to make a few observations on the traditional friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Africa before I open the floor for some questions.

Africa and China both have a long and proud civilization. The Lucy Fossil discovered in Ethiopia has established Africa as the birth place for mankind. The Caveman site discovered in the Beijing Zhoukoudian area dates back about 30,000 years. The pyramids in Egypt are the witness of the glorious human civilization in the early days of Africa. The Great Wall and the Forbidden City you are about to see are world culture heritages passed down from the Chinese civilization. The Masai Mara Park Reserve in Kenya and the Kruger National Park in South Africa exemplify the timeless philosophy of man living in harmony with nature, whereas the Songhua Lake and Fengman Hydro Power Station you are visiting this time are embodiments of the can-do spirit of Chinese people and their harness of nature and preservation of the eco-environment. Africa is known for its warm-hearted, friendly, diligent and smart people and cultural diversity. China is known for its hardworking, courteous and perseverant people and its boundless cultural gems.

China and Africa share a time-honored friendship. Despite a long distance, China and Africa have a long history of friendship that dates back thousands of years ago. In the 2nd Century BC, China's Han Dynasty already started indirect trade in curiosities and specialty goods with Africa. Word has it that the royal gowns worn by Queen of Egypt Cleopatra in the first century BC were made from Chinese silk. Since the Silk Road was created by Zhang Qian, a Chinese from Han Dynasty, Chinese gold and silk have found their way as far as to the south of the Mediterranean. In Tang Dynasty, the Chinese set foot in sub-Saharan Africa. There were many brave, intelligent and heroic African figures depicted in different Chinese art forms. The blue-white porcelain and coins of Tang Dynasty were also found in Egypt, Kenya and Zanzibar. In Song Dynasty, Chinese products were found in large quantities in north and southeast Africa, as well as the inland country of Zimbabwe. In Yuan Dynasty, Chinese envoys went to Madagascar. The famous Chinese traveler Wang Dayuan had been to Tanzania. The Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta had been to Chinese cities such as Quanzhou, Hangzhou and Guangzhou. Zheng He, the famous Chinese navigator of Ming Dynasty, once led fleets to the Red Sea and the east coast of Africa.

The People's Republic of China is more committed to consolidating relations with Africa. I believe you all know the historic handshakes between Chinese and African leaderships at the Bandung Conference of 1955. Chinese and African construction workers have worked side by side on the Tazara Railway project, a symbol of China-Africa friendship. Since the dispatch of the first medical team in 1963, China has sent medical workers of over 17,000 person times to Africa. Most of them are stationed in remote areas with harsh living and medical conditions. Yet, they have provided quality medical service to local residents without asking for returns. 40 doctors even lost their lives for this great cause. Chinese agriculture experts have gone deep into the African countryside under scalding heat to teach African farmers how to seed and use fertilizer. Their commitment has promoted the development of agriculture on the African continent. For the Chinese people, we will always remember it was our African friends that opened up the door to China's legitimate seat in the United Nations. The Olympic torch relay carrying the Olympic spirits was concluded successfully in Dar es Salaam, the City of Peace. We owe also our deep gratitude to the African people for their selfless assistance after the devastating earthquake of 2008. These are the epitomes of the strong and all-weather brotherhood between Chinese and African people. China and Africa will always remain "good friends, good brothers and good partners".

China-Africa mutually beneficial cooperation is growing rapidly and sustainably. China and Africa enjoy strong economic mutual-complementarity. Africa has abundant natural resources. China has mature technology and processing and manufacturing capabilities. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially since China implemented reform and opening-up, we have been calling for greater economic independence among developing countries and for narrowing the development gap between the South and the North. We attach great importance to developing mutually beneficial cooperation and economic engagement with Africa. The success of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum Beijing Summit in 2006 opened a new chapter in China-Africa economic history. Since then, thanks to the joint efforts of China and African nations, the 8 policy measures of cementing pragmatic cooperation and supporting African development announced by President Hu Jintao are now being gradually implemented. New progress has materialized in the area of trade and economic cooperation. By setting up the China-Africa Development Fund and building economic cooperation zones in Africa, China is encouraging Chinese enterprises to intensify investments in Africa. Against the backdrop of the deepening global financial crisis and sliding global foreign direct investment, Chinese enterprises have made more, not less, investment in Africa. In the first half of this year, China's direct investment in Africa amounted to 552 million USD. This remains a small figure, but it shows an increase of 81%. Preliminary statistics also suggest there are more than 1,000 Chinese enterprises operating in Africa. Chinese enterprises and people can be found in every African nation. By affording duty exemption for some African exports to China, by organizing African commodity fairs and by sending purchasing missions to Africa, China is opening up more to and promoting more imports from Africa. Now, Chinese consumers are already familiar with the red wine from South Africa, olive oil from Tunisia, coffee from Uganda, cassava from Nigeria, sesame from Ethiopia and the famous African dark wood carvings. By providing concessional loans, China is supporting infrastructure projects across Africa. The Bui hydro station in Ghana, cement plant in Zimbabwe, housing project in Equatorial Guinea, telecom network in Tanzania are examples of projects under construction. All this will surely promote economic prosperity and improve livelihood in Africa.

China's assistance to Africa is sincere and selfless. China has a population of 1.3 billion. The per-capita GDP level here is still very low. Nearly 200 million Chinese people are still living below the World Bank standard of 1.25 USD per day per person. Another 60 million are disabled people. China faces a daunting task of development and tremendous pressure for poverty reduction. Regardless, since its founding, the People's Republic of China has consistently provided aid for Africa to the best of its ability. So far, China has aided over 50 African nations in over 900 construction projects, trained 30,000 African people of various professions, sent 350,000 specialists to Africa and written off partial government debts owed by 33 African countries. The Chinese medical teams and agriculture experts I mentioned before have made important contributions in terms of keeping African people safe and healthy, and helping them out of poverty and hunger. China's assistance to Africa has always been without strings attached and is selfless and sincere.

Dear young friends, China's founding leader Chairman Mao once compared youth to the sun at 8 and 9 o'clock of the morning. The message is that young people are full of promise and are the hope and future of the world. The inheritance of human civilization and the realization of harmony and common prosperity call for the joint efforts of young people in every corner of the world. The continuation of the traditional friendship between China and Africa also requires closer communication and better mutual understanding between the younger generations of China and Africa. China's leadership is highly committed in this regard. Your visit to China this time is part of the announcement made by President Hu Jintao during his visit to South Africa in 2007 that 500 African young people would be invited to China within 3 years. To my knowledge, Premier Wen Jiabao will also personally attend the opening ceremony of the third China-Africa Youth Festival and relevant events of the Departure Ceremony for Chinese Youth Volunteers Leaving for Africa. I hope you could make the most of your stay by seeing more, hearing more, and feeling more about China and its people and get a deeper knowledge of China's traditional culture and its modernization achievements. I also need to remind you that we are only arranging visits to economically developed cities in China this time because this is going to be a short visit. We are yet to take you to China's countryside and the central and western regions. So you are going to see only the fast-development side of China, but we do have many poor and economically disadvantaged regions and many people who still have subsistence problems.

Dear friends, the friendship between China and Africa is the result of concerted efforts by generations of Chinese and African people. The future of this relationship lies in the hands of young people. An old Chinese saying goes, "indigo blue is from indigo plant but is bluer than the plant itself". It means the young generation can not only inherit the traditions but also build on and strengthen these traditions. I'm confident through our joint efforts, the tree of friendship between China and Africa will remain ever-green and our mutually beneficial cooperation even more prosperous.

To conclude, I wish you all a pleasant stay in China and great health. Thank you.

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