"Nine programs" to further strengthen Africa-China practical cooperation, African experts, scholars say

　　BEIJING, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Nine programs of Africa-China cooperation for the next three years will further strengthen Africa-China practical cooperation and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, African experts and scholars have said.

　　Under the first three-year plan of the China-Africa Cooperation Vision 2035, China will work closely with African countries to implement nine programs, Chinese President Xi Jinping made the remarks when addressing the opening ceremony of the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation via video link on Monday.

　　Speaking of the medical and health program, Cavince Adhere, a Kenyan scholar on international relations, said that Xi's announcement of providing an additional 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to Africa "could not have come at a more opportune time."

　　He said the trade promotion program "will significantly close the much-needed funding gap in the continent," and will create more job opportunities for African countries.

　　The green development program is of great importance, as it shows China's determination to help Africa achieve green development, as well as its responsibility as a major country in tackling global climate change, said Anani Okuminyi Demuyakor, former Ghana's ambassador to China.

　　Digital innovation program and capacity building program should also be given strong emphasis, said Costantinos Bt. Costantinos, a professor of public policy at the Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, noting that these two "could effectively enable the productivity of Africa's burgeoning youth population."

　　"China, with its robust capacity building experience that was accumulated over the past decades of its success in lifting close to one billion people out of absolute poverty, can help Africa replicate its achievements in this regard," the professor added.

　　Noting there have been extensive dialogues between China and Africa on governance, economic development, poverty alleviation, Mashinde Katombe Merveille, scholar from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), said that China's development path has set an example for the DRC and other African countries. Enditem