A 3-day Africa–China Relations Symposium is set to commence this morning 7th September, 2022 at the Africa Young Voices (AYV) Media Empire Conference Centre on Wesley street in Freetown.
The Conference which will attract distinguished participants including planning committee, Chinese Embassy, AYV, facilitators, group facilitators, rapporteurs and experts is expected to end on 9th September.
Chinese Ambassador Hu Zhangliang is expected to serve as Keynote Speaker at the event whiles the keynote address will be delivered by a senior Sierra Leone Government minister.
Distinguished speakers will also deliver talks on the “Opportunities, challenges and recommendations for China and Africa cooperation”.
Also, online statement on the “History of Africa-China Cooperation” will be delivered by Mr. Charles Onunaiju, Director, Center for China Studies, Nigeria whiles Prof. Zhang Chun，Senior Research Fellow at Institute of International Relations, Yunnan University is expected to talk on the “Current State of Africa-China Cooperation”.
The 3-day event will further see Speakers and participate making practicable recommendations and new ideas to enhance a mutually beneficial relationship between China and Africa including Sierra Leone. Participants will also work with coordinators/facilitators to develop the conference reports.
China is the largest developing country in the world, and Africa is the continent with the largest number of developing countries.
The shared past experiences and similar aims and goals have brought China and Africa in general and created a partnership with mutual benefits for both parties and Sierra Leone has benefited significantly from the growing relationship with China.
The symposium is meant to highlight the long-standing cooperation between China and Sierra Leone under the China/Africa cooperation. The successes, challenges and recommendations will be the basis for discussion during the symposium.
The symposium will provide a forum for the discussion of key issues relating to China/Sierra Leone Cooperation and thoughts aimed at improving the existing cooperation and partnership.
Key objectives of the Symposium include understanding the history of the China-Africa relations; how is China contributing to development of Africa; understand the current relationship between China and Africa including fruits and challenges of cooperation (Sierra Leone as a case study); make practicable suggestions and new ideas to enhance a mutually beneficial relationship between China and Africa, especially Sierra Leone; challenges in the cooperation between China and Africa; innovative and practicable ideas and suggestions to strengthen a mutually beneficial Sino-African relationship; promoting China-Africa Culture; and case study: How to further improve Sierra Leone-China relationship.
The symposium will also deliberate on questions from theoretical and empirical approaches which include political and economic aspects of Africa-China engagement; Chinese investments and industries in Africa; China’s role in infrastructure building; knowledge and innovation transfer in China and Africa; natural resource contentions and people; governance, development models and policy learning; people to people engagements; perceptions and attitudes towards Africans in China and Chinese in Africa; cultural exchanges between China and Africa; migration trends and experiences; human development and well-being; health and well-being (e.g. China’s role in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa); and educational partnerships: experiences of people involved. Read our next edition for more on the Symposium.
