Online Reporter
Farirai Machivenyika-Senior Reporter
FOREIGN Affairs and International Trade Minister Professor Amon Murwira has commended China’s practical assistance to Zimbabwe as the country’s President, Xi Jinping, announced a zero-tariff trade deal for 53 African nations it enjoys diplomatic relations with.
This came out at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Inter-Ministerial meeting being held in Changsha, China to assess progress made on agreements reached during FOCAC’s meeting of Heads of State and Government held last year.
In an interview, after the Inter-Ministerial meeting on Wednesday, Prof Murwira hailed China for its assistance to Africa and Zimbabwe in particular.
“We have been cooperating in the field of health, in the field of telecoms, in the field of ICT, and you know we have completed phase two of the high-performance computer in Zimbabwe. We are working on 5G. We have worked on our Parliament, as you know, and we have worked on our airports, both Victoria Falls International Airport and Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport.
“These are all products of Chinese cooperation. So, we are reaffirming our philosophy of working with the People’s Republic of China in a practical way that is mutually respectful, that is non-judgemental. So, we have been affirming that kind of relationship within the context of Zimbabwe and China and within the context of Africa and China,” Prof Murwira said.
In his message to the meeting that was read by China’s Foreign Affairs Minister and co-Chair of the Interministerial Meeting, Wang Yi, President Xi announced the zero-tariff measure.
“China is ready to implement the zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent tariff lines given to the 53 African countries having diplomatic ties with China by signing agreements on economic partnership for shared development and provide more facilitation for African Least Developed Countries to export to China.
“China will work with Africa to further implement the 10 partnership actions, strengthen cooperation in key areas such as green industries, e-commerce and payment, science and technology and Artificial Intelligence, and deepen cooperation in such fields as security, finance and the rule of law in a bid to promote the high-quality development of China-Africa cooperation. Openness and cooperation is the right way forward for humanity, and mutual benefit and win-win results are what our people aspire to,” he said.
Trade between Africa and China stood at US$300 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow following President Xi’s pronouncement.
President Xi said China and Africa advancing modernisation together will boost solidarity and cooperation of the Global South and usher in a brighter future for the cause of world peace and development.
“I hope China and Africa will continue making solid progress in the implementation of the follow-up actions of the FOCAC Summit and make good plans for the future of the Forum,” he added.
In his message, Minister Wang, commended the progress made since the Heads of State and Government Summit held last September.
“We have further consolidated our strategic mutual trust. Chinese and African leaders have visited each other regularly like relatives do and deepened experience-sharing on national governance.
“Our people-to-people bond has kept strengthening and our consensus on pursuing development with solidarity has become ever stronger. We have further deepened our practical cooperation. Over the past nine months, China has invested another 13,3 billion yuan (US$1,84 billion) in Africa and our total financial support of various kinds from China has exceeded 150 million yuan (US$21 million),” he said.
Foreign Affairs Minister and co-Chair of the meeting, Jean-Claude Gakosso said African nations and China shared a similar goal of improving their people’s well-being.
“Our shared goal is to advance for each of our nations the dream of greater well-being for our people and through win-win, mutually respectful strategic partnerships built on trust and solidarity.
“The Republic of Congo highly commends China’s various actions and steadfast solidarity with Africa,” he said.
Minister Gakasso also took a swipe at the US and Western nations’ attempt to contain China.
“In the current context in the name of Africa we would like to emphasise that we fully support joint actions to cope with current pressure and unreasonable tariffs and cope with certain countries’ attempt to contain our countries, particularly China,” he said.
