What China-Africa Think Tank Forum entails in Dar
DAR ES SALAAM: THE 13th meeting of the China-Africa Think Tank Forum was concluded in Dar es Salaam with a message that the world is like a village with shared future and understanding.
Taking the stance on Friday on the sidelines of the two-day conference, Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania, Chen Mingjian added: “We don’t want rivalries, disputes and confrontations; we want cooperation to live and peacefully, because we want one another in one way or another.” With high hopes on accelerating economic growth, she further said that China and Africa have a shared desire to explore development paths and work together to build a high-quality China-Africa community with a shared future.
In what observers opined as a springboard for the continent’s economic and industrialisation agenda, the forum was further focused on exploring China-Africa cooperation mechanisms, strategic initiatives and practical actions in the fields of industrialisation, agricultural modernisation, and human resources training among others.
Hosted by the Secretariat of the Chinese Follow-up Committee of the Forum in China-Africa Cooperation, it was a platform for an initiative on building China-Africa think tank cooperation network, which is in Chinese, English, and French, calling for the strengthening of China-Africa think tanks’ cooperation and a network promoting mutual understanding and common development between the two sides.
In the course, the forum released a document on the consensus of China-Africa think tanks on deepening cooperation on global development, where it discussed in depth areas, in which the two should further join hands to address any future challenge that will arise along the common vision of living in the world that is now one village with shared future. In her further address on the sidelines of the forum, the ambassador noted that in the case of Tanzania, China is the biggest destiny of many students studying abroad and again being one of the great investors in terms of building infrastructures like roads, hence, such cooperation will realise development to all sides.
She added: “For example, last year more than 40, 000 Chinese visited Tanzania as tourists and this shows how the East African country is friendly and opening its doors for development. Since 2010, nearly 100 think tanks and academic research institutions have participated in the Chinese-Africa joint research and exchange plan.
That comes with the background that both China and Africa consider academic exchanges and cooperation among the think tanks as an important driving force for bilateral cooperation.
To enhance research strengths, the two sides support various cooperation among academic research institutions, think-tanks and universities in carrying out subject research, academic exchanges and publication of works.
Historically, China-Africa Think Tanks Forum (CATTF) was established by the Institute of Africa Studies at Zhejiang Normal University in 2011. While sticking to the governing tenets of ‘Civil Initiative, Government Support, Frank Dialogue and Consensus Building, CATTF aims to promote academic research, boot mutual understanding, expand common consensus and generate policy recommendations for the development of the comprehensive cooperation relations between China and Africa.
Since, the founding of CATTF has produced solid outcomes and exerted wide influence, with 12 international sessions successfully held in China and Africa.
CATTF is now included in the framework of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and has become a high-end institutional platform for academic exchanges and dialogue among think tanks between china and Africa. In attendance, James Mdoe, deputy permanent secretary in the Tanzanian Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, said China and Africa must further figure out ways to deepen cooperation and seek to demonstrate the instrumental role that education can play in building strong societies.
He added: “I extend my sincere appreciations to the organisers for taking time to come up with event in Tanzania, especially this time when Tanzania and China are celebrating 60 years of diplomatic relations.” That was ahead of the 9th Ministerial Conference of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to be held in September this year. FOCAC is a forum, where collective dialogue and practical cooperation between China and Africa occur.
The Forum has encouraged a wide-ranging engagement with Africa since its establishment in 2000. Arguably, it is the formalisation of China’s links with Africa that goes back to the founding of the People’s Republic of China with a shared desire to explore development paths and build a closer community for a shared future with the theme of “China-Africa Practice: Building a Community with a Shared Future”. Recalling the sidelines of the 15th BRICS Summit held in August 2023 in Johannesburg, South Africa, among other things that were discussed, President Xi Jinping of China took the opportunity to announce three initiatives that are of paramount importance to the development of Tanzania and Africa at large, namely; Supporting Africa’s Industrialisation, Supporting Africa’s Agricultural Modernisation and China-Africa Cooperation on Talent Development.
These initiatives serve as a prerequisite for the prosperity of most economies in Africa and practical cooperation between Africa and China.
Mr Mdoe noted that that resulted in the Global Development Initiative (GDI) which supports timely achievement of all 17 SDGs of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by revitalising global development partnership and promoting stronger, greener and healthier global development as it aligns with the theme of this forum.
Here, Tanzania recognises the significant contributions made by the Government of China through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in infrastructure connectivity, trade promotion and people to people exchange.
On education
The Chinese government has long cared about education and capacity building in Africa. In November, 2021, at the opening ceremony of the eighth Ministerial Conference of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that China will work closely with African countries to implement nine programs, including capacity building program.
China will help build or upgrade 10 schools in Africa, and invite 10,000 high-level African professionals to seminars and workshops.
The President added: “We will implement “Future of Africa- a project for ChinaAfrica cooperation for vocational education”, and start an employment “through train” scheme for African students in China.
China will continue to work with African countries to set up “Luban Workshops”, and encourage Chinese companies in Africa to create at least 800,000 local jobs.” As an all-weather friend and good partner, China has always supported the vigorous development of education in Tanzania. In recent years, the Chinese government provides more than 200 government scholarships and hundreds of training programs to Tanzania every year.
So far, China has provided more than 2000 scholarships and thousands of vocational training opportunities to Tanzania, and kept training local people in Chinese language and culture, practical skills and professional knowledge through platforms like Confucius Institute, and Luban Workshop and technical assistance.
China has also helped build two China-Africa Friendship Primary Schools for Tanzania, A Vocational Training Centre in Kagera and a library for the University of Dar es Salaam, which is one of the largest and best equipped libraries in Africa.
Beyond politics
China’s infrastructure development in Africa during this period evolved from the physical to include digital and technology spheres, intended to support Africa’s pursuit of the ‘fourth industrial revolution’. Over this phase, China laid down submarine cable networks along the coast of Africa, providing large parts of the continent with highspeed and low-cost broadband access.
China has since developed Africa’s first public cloud, built data storage centres and provided software systems for national governments. China’s technology infrastructure incorporates both hard and soft elements.
China has further ventured in joint space development; China’s commitment to Africa’s space missions supports the African dream for this sector.
In recent years, the think tank forum has held a series of high-quality exchanges, which have fostered a positive atmosphere in both academia and society for stronger China-Africa relations. In order for Africa to take advantage and benefit from the China -Africa cooperation and hence “Build a Community for a shared future” we need to prepare our youth.
Apparently, most education policies in Africa have not changed much from the systems we inherited from our colonial masters, and even as those former masters opened up their education systems to continuous reformation, our part of the world, due to some reasons have largely remained the same.
The failure of our education policies, as a greater Africa Region, is evidenced by the mismatch between graduates and the labour market and the inequitable access to quality education on the continent. As a consequence, unemployment to our youth is rampant and hence jeopardising peace and tranquility leading to the underdevelopment we are witnessing, among other factors.
In Tanzania, for instance, our education and training policy has had some negative implications on the education quality, relevance, access and inclusivity. Without quality, relevant education the dream of “building a community with shared future’ with our friends from China will be farfetched.
As a think Tank let us interrogate our education policies and systems come up with practical ways of making them relevant, market responsive and a source of job creation and not otherwise.
It is for these reasons that our Government through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has embarked on major reforms of the education system in the country.
On his part, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Prof Nelson Boniface, called for increased cooperation between China and Tanzania on academic and research projects in various fields, including science, education, humanities and social sciences, engineering, and technology, to meet the two countries’ demands.
He further stated that the institution’s mission seeks to advance socio-economic and technological development of Tanzania and beyond through excellent teaching and learning, research, and knowledge exchange.
Citing how the cooperation with China midwifed the Confucius Institute at the University of Dar es Salaam (CI UDSM) way back in 2013- under the agreement between UDSM on one hand and Confucius Institute Headquarters at Hanban and Zhejiang Normal University, China on the other, he noted that the main objectives of CI UDSM are to meet Tanzania’s growing need of understanding Chinese language, culture, technology and skills and to increase mutual understanding among the peoples of China and Tanzania.
Indeed, the institute has acted as a platform for socio-political and economic exchanges and collaborations between China and Tanzania. It has also stimulated research on various aspects of Sino-Tanzania relations; including history, education, science and technology.
Beyond the University of Dar es Salaam, the institute has reinforced collaborations with local schools and education institutions, enhancement of the study on Sinology, jointly cultivation of talents, underlining development characteristics of Confucius Institutes in different places, and emphasis on employment and cultivation of local teachers in the Institute.
More than 300 participants from 50 countries, including scholars, experts, representatives of international organisations in Tanzania, diplomatic envoys, government officials, and entrepreneurs, participated in the forum through a combination of online and offline means.
The forum was jointly organised by Zhejiang Normal University in east China, the Chinese Embassy in Tanzania, the Department of Foreign Affairs of Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government, and the Jinhua Municipal People’s Government in east China’s Zhejiang Province.
It was supported by Xinhua News Agency Africa Regional Bureau, the University of Dar es Salaam, and the China-Africa Fund for Industrial Cooperation.
