Nairobi, KENYA
President Xi Jinping of China on Wednesday assured African countries that his country will continue supporting COVID-19 containment measures on the continent.
Speaking during an extra-ordinary China-Africa Summit on
solidarity against COVID-19, President Xi said China’s support for Africa
during the current health crisis will include debt relief in line with the G20
moratorium and the FOCAC framework.
The virtual summit was convened by China, South Africa and
Senegal. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is the current Chairperson of
the African Union while Senegal’s Macky Sall is the Co-Chairperson of the Forum
on Africa-China Cooperation (FOCAC).
The Chinese leader said his country will continue providing
technical and material support needed to defeat the virus in Africa.
He assured African leaders that his government will ensure
Africa is among the first to benefit from the COVID-19 vaccine once it is
rolled out.
President Kenyatta, who attended the summit in his capacity
as a member of the Bureau of the Assembly of the AU Heads of State and
Government thanked China for the COVID-19 related support given to African
countries including Kenya.
“I wish to thank the Chinese government for the swift
response to provide Kenya and the rest of the continent with medical supplies
including testing kits, Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), and
pharmaceuticals to help us fight, not just the COVID-19 pandemic, but also the
locust invasion,” President Kenyatta said.
President Xi said “China will never waver in its pursuit
for greater solidarity with Africa”.
He urged African leaders to stick together in upholding
multilateralism and oppose the politicization and stigmatization of the
Coronavirus pandemic.
Also top of the Chinese help for Africa will be the fast
tracking of the construction of the Africa Centre for Disease Control (Africa
CDC) headquarters and support for projects aimed at enhancing intra-Africa
connectivity.
In order to aid African economies recover from the adverse
effects of the pandemic, the Chinese leader said his government will support
programmes aimed at strengthening value chains on the continent.
President Kenyatta identified loss of jobs and reduction of
revenues as key impacts of COVID-19 on African economies and appealed for more
economic interventions by China.
“Given the scale of economic devastation in the continent,
I would like to call on China to further deepen debt relief measures and to
consider trade concessions, to provide African countries with the breathing
room they need for economic recovery,” President Kenyatta said.
He called for the strengthening of Africa’s health systems
saying the continent’s weak health infrastructure is a setback in the fight
against COVID-19.
“I am aware strengthening of public health systems is one
of the pillars of the Forum on Africa-China Cooperation (FOCAC). As the
pandemic has demonstrated, this is a critical agenda, which has not received
the attention it deserves,” President Kenyatta said.
Speaking on behalf of the East African Community (EAC)
where he is the current Chairperson, Rwandan President Paul Kagame thanked the
Chinese government for committing 2 billion US Dollars to the global fight
against COVID-19 over the next two years.
The African Union Chairperson and co-convenor of the
virtual summit President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa said the continent had
acted decisively and in unison in its response to COVID-19.
He said the continent will on Thursday launch the African
Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP), an online portal that will enable African
countries access large quantities of critical COVID-19 response supplies at
competitive prices.
The South African leader called on the Chinese government to consider supporting African nations with six months’ worth of equipment and other supplies through the AMSP. The AMSP is supported by the Afrexim Bank. - CitizenTV
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