23 June, 2017
Also on Thursday, Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, with whom he discussed ways to cooperate in advancing regional stability based on their unified stance towards the regional crises.
For his side, Yi said external interferences in the internal affairs of countries in the region escalate tensions, urging the global community to dedicate more attention and efforts to support development in the Middle East to address the threat of terrorism more effectively.
A high-level dialogue and think tank forum on poverty reduction and development was held on Wednesday at the AU headquarters, which the Foreign Minister said was an important platform to share the achievements and experiences of poverty reduction between the two sides.
Stating that about 400 million people are living in poverty in Africa, Wang underlined the urgent task of achieving poverty reduction on the continent.
He also said China will continue to provide aid to Jordan to help relieve the pressure the Syrian refugees impose on the kingdom.
However, the Chinese Foreign Minister noted that broader consensus has emerged among Chinese and African academics that African countries must consider their unique socio-cultural issues when setting up special economic zones.
Peace and stability, public health service, human resource developments are areas in which the government of China ready to offer support to Africa.
Wang said he hoped participants of the forum will come up with practical action plans after drawing inspirations from the book "Out of Poverty" by President Xi and the successful practice of poverty alleviation in China.
In 2015, China promised $60 billion funding to promote China-Africa cooperation to support the continent's development.
The Chairperson said that the continent has established strong relationship with Africa by building infrastructures including railway and road and others.
In a related development, Africa and China have taken yet another step to strengthen bilateral trade relations, a move that could help drive sustainable economic development on the continent.
