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Dennis Munene
The global community today is facing both traditional and non-traditional security threats that endanger its socio-economic stability and development.
Against this backdrop, scholars and policy experts from about 50 countries in Africa and China jointly released the Dar es Salaam Consensus at the 13th meeting of the China-Africa Think Tanks Forum in Tanzania’s port city of Dar es Salaam in March.
The consensus provides a policy dialogue platform for deepening global development cooperation.
Today, both China and Africa have entered a new development stage as indicated by the consensus.
This development paradigm is creating more opportunities for Africa’s development.
For instance, China has developed more than 100 000km of roads, 10 000 km of railway, 1 000 bridges, approximately 100 ports, and several energy facilities in Africa. These infrastructure expansions continue to usher in a new era of connectivity and accessibility across the continent, making Africa a fulcrum and frontier of development. Indeed, the Dar es Salaam Consensus has rekindled the Africa rising narrative.
Further, the Dar es Salaam Consensus will strengthen Africa’s economic integration, providing more room for growth in China-Africa cooperation.
The two civilisations are focused on boosting quality development and further aligning the goals of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilisation Initiative with those of the African Union Agenda 2063, the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the development strategies of individual African countries such as Kenya’s Vision 2030.
This will strengthen high-quality sustainable development pledges, ensuring that no country or society is left behind. This exemplifies the true meaning of building a community with a shared future for mankind.
In retrospect, the immense success of China’s path to modernisation inspired the Dar es Salaam Consensus that emboldened Africa’s search for its own independent path to modernisation.
For Africa, modernising its infrastructure, boosting economic growth, development and foreign investment and eradicating poverty catalyse its quest for an African renaissance story.
The consensus also breaks the myth that modernisation equals Westernisation. For China, the path to modernisation for both civilisations is anchored on the principles of mutual respect, solidarity, win-win cooperation, openness and common prosperity.
As a breath of fresh air, the consensus is advocating for reform of the international financial system to bridge the development gap, and ensure countries in the Global South have the same opportunities as those in the Global North.
Knowing that the promotion of dialogue and consensus in a multipolar world is fundamental to ensuring the countries in the Global South experience true modernisation, delegates present made several consensuses.
First is the adoption of more practical and effective measures to promote knowledge sharing. Second, give priority to development and explore independent, people-centred paths of mutual respect and mutual learning.
Third, promote the building of an equal and orderly multipolar world to facilitate common development.
Fourth, advance a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation to share the dividends of development. Fifth, promote reform of the international financial system to bridge the development gap.
Sixth, ensure that China and Africa align with international initiatives and national plans to strengthen high-quality sustainable development bonds.
Seventh, activate domestic development through effective markets and proactive governments. — China Daily
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