From a seed to a forest, the China-Africa Think Tank Forum was held in Yiwu

China News Service, Jinhua, November 7th, Title: From a seed to a forest, the China-Africa Think Tank Forum was held in Yiwu

Author Cao Dan

From its first entry into Ethiopia in 2012, to now attracting participation from scholars from more than 50 African countries and regions, the China-Africa Think Tank Forum has gone through fifteen years.

From November 6th to 7th, the 15th China-Africa Think Tank Forum was held in Yiwu, Jinhua, Zhejiang. The theme of this conference was "Open cooperation, mutual learning and development, and shared missions - a comprehensive practice for China and Africa to work together to promote modernization." About 300 people including government officials, think tank scholars, business representatives, university teachers and students from China and African countries attended the meeting.

On November 6, Chinese and foreign guests jointly released the "Think Tank Action Declaration for China and Africa to Join Hands in Implementing the Modernization of the Global South" and the "Consensus on Mutual Learning between Chinese and African Civilizations." Photo by Cao Dan

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Africa. It is also the "Year of People-to-People Exchanges between China and Africa" agreed by China and Africa. Since May 1 this year, China has fully implemented a zero-tariff policy with 53 African countries that have diplomatic relations with China. At the same time, it has further expanded access to African products exported to China through upgrading "green channels" and other means.

Liu Yuxi, Ambassador for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, said that China's comprehensive "zero tariff" initiative towards Africa has achieved remarkable results. From May to September this year, China's imports from African countries increased by 21.6% year-on-year. This will not only benefit people's livelihood, but will also effectively boost Africa's industrialization process.

Beyond numbers, there is another layer of cooperation that is not easy to quantify.

According to Liu Hongwu, founder of the China-Africa Think Tank Forum and director of the Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University, the difference between this forum and general academic conferences is that the topics and discussion directions are jointly agreed upon by think tanks from both China and Africa.

"The forum requires scholars from China and Africa to immerse themselves in the field of each other's countries and conduct on-the-ground research, which always makes them based on solid practical experience," Liu Hongwu said.

In order to demonstrate the purpose of equal dialogue, the forum adopts a rotating mechanism between China and Africa. After going abroad for the first time in 2012, he successively landed in South Africa, Tanzania, the African Union Headquarters and other places, and also returned to Zhejiang, Beijing, and Kunming many times.

"From a seed of thought, it slowly grew into a forest of cooperation." This is how Liu Hongwu described the process.

The ideological achievements in the past fifteen years are equally impressive. In 2013, the third session of the China-Africa Think Tank Forum issued the China-Africa Think Tank 10+10 Partnership Plan Initiative. The 13th Forum was held in Tanzania. Chinese and African scholars jointly released the "China-Africa Dar es Salaam Consensus", which was written into the outcome document of the 2024 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. The Addis Ababa Consensus on the Right to Development in China and Africa was subsequently launched to jointly explain the right to development and human rights with southern discourse.

At the same time, hundreds of research reports have been submitted to decision-making departments, and the forum has become a long-term mechanism to support the agenda of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, build China's independent knowledge system of regional and country studies, and cultivate a China-Africa academic community.

During this session, Chinese and foreign guests jointly issued the "Declaration of Action for China and Africa to Work Together to Implement the Modernization of the "Global South" Think Tanks", closely following the core connotation of China and Africa working together to promote the "Six Modernizations", calling on Chinese and African think tanks to be interpreters of ideas for independent exploration of development paths, contributors of advice and suggestions for the exchange of experience in state governance, pragmatic contributors to deepening international mutually beneficial cooperation, and powerful promoters of exchanges and mutual learning among world civilizations.

The Consensus on Mutual Learning between Chinese and African Civilizations was released at the same time, calling for respecting the diversity of world civilizations, promoting the common values ​​of all mankind, and deepening people-to-people exchanges and cooperation.

Dunbar Ba, the former chief foreign affairs adviser to the president of Senegal, emphasized that Africa should strengthen its own think tanks and build an independent African narrative system to get rid of inherent prejudices.

"In the face of waves such as artificial intelligence and digital transformation, Africa-China cooperation cannot stop at the use of technology." Baru Demissi, senior adviser to the Ethiopian Policy Research Institute, suggested that think tanks from both sides should deepen collaboration in areas such as joint policy research, institutional partnerships, exchanges of young scholars, and response to emerging challenges.

In Liu Hongwu’s view, the mission of China-Africa think tanks is to allow scholars from both sides to jointly develop topics, jointly conduct field surveys, and jointly produce results, so as to transform global development initiatives, global security initiatives, and global civilization initiatives into discourse plans that both China and Africa can understand, recognize, and implement. "Fifteen years is an important milestone, but it is also a new starting point." (End)