During the 2024 World Vocational and Technical Education Development Conference held from Nov 20 to 22 in Tianjin, Kalkidan, a 24-year-old Ethiopian, introduces an industrial robot-training platform to a visitor at the booth of the Ethiopia Luban Workshop. [Photo/Xinhua]
The Belt and Road Initiative has become a highly welcomed international public good and cooperation platform, embodying the significant practice of building a community with a shared future for humanity.
Africa, as the continent with the highest concentration of developing countries, is an important supporter, participant and beneficiary of the BRI. Currently, 52 African countries and the African Union have signed memorandums of understanding with China to jointly advance the BRI.
Africa's unique advantages in resource endowment, market scale, and development resilience are becoming increasingly evident, offering substantial potential for China-Africa cooperation in key fields such as manufacturing development, urbanization, the digital economy and green energy.
The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed promoting the high-quality development of Belt and Road cooperation, and the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation announced eight actions in support of high-quality joint construction of the BRI.
These indicate that high-quality joint construction of the BRI is a critical component of China-Africa cooperation in the new era.
As the leading force of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, digital technology has become a key factor in shaping competitive advantages for nations worldwide. China-Africa cooperation in the digital economy enables both sides to seize this historical opportunity for development and achieve mutual benefits.
China already has the foundational conditions to cooperate with Africa in developing the digital economy. However, despite Africa's enormous potential for digital economy development, the continent faces numerous challenges and still has a significant digital gap compared to developed countries.
Amid the increasingly complex international environment during these times of major changes and adjustments, the high-quality China-Africa collaboration under the BRI presents both strategic opportunities — such as accelerating digital transformation and deepening partnerships — as well as challenges, including global governance dilemmas, nontraditional security issues, and more intense competition over digital regulations.
The United Nations Global Digital Compact emphasizes prioritizing development, universally beneficial and inclusive, innovation-driven growth, and the protection of cultural diversity in digital spaces, creating an open, fair, inclusive and nondiscriminatory environment for digital development.
This reflects the urgent call of Global South countries to bridge the digital divide and address governance deficits, highlighting the international community's shared aspiration to work together in the face of both opportunities and challenges brought by digitalization.
The third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee has laid out a grand blueprint for further comprehensively deepening reforms to advance Chinese modernization, enhance mechanisms for promoting the high-quality development of the BRI, and continue implementing the BRI Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan. It will also strengthen multilateral cooperation platforms in areas such as the digital economy, artificial intelligence, green development and energy.
As a responsible major country, China's digital economy has been growing rapidly and will step up efforts to help the Global South bridge the digital divide. By collaborating with African nations to build the Digital Silk Road, China could strengthen exchanges and collaboration in technology transfer and knowledge sharing through the provision of public products, allowing African countries to share digital achievements and address digital challenges.
Specifically, China and Africa will accelerate cooperation in new fields such as digital infrastructure, digital industry transformation, social security and emergency management. This collaboration will enhance economic development and improve security, contributing to the high-quality joint construction of the BRI.
First, China will provide more public goods for the development of the digital economy supporting Africa's digital transformation. Specific measures include promoting the construction of digital infrastructure and the digital upgrading of traditional infrastructure driven by digital technologies.
For example, facilitating high-speed internet access in Africa through national backbone cable projects supported by China has allowed countries such as Tanzania, Senegal and Uganda to achieve digital transformation, spurring their socioeconomic transformation and development. Another example is the continuous development of China-Africa cross-border e-commerce, which further deepens China-Africa trade cooperation, enabling products such as Ethiopian coffee, Kenyan tea, and Rwandan chili sauce to enter the Chinese market.
Second, enhance the digital capabilities of African countries to accelerate their digital transformation and industrial upgrading. This involves promoting China-Africa cooperation in information and network technologies such as 5G, big data, cloud computing, fintech and artificial intelligence, as well as supporting the establishment of joint laboratories, partner research institutes and technology innovation and cooperation hubs to bridge the digital divide.
Additionally, strengthening digital talent cultivation is a priority. The Action Plan for China-Africa Digital Cooperation and Development has released a plan to train 1,000 digital technology professionals together over the next three years, improving Africa's digital capabilities and promoting digital literacy.
Finally, provide more security-related digital public goods in response to the security concerns of African countries. This includes strengthening cooperation with African countries in areas such as intelligent transportation, smart cities, e-government, border monitoring and national defense, providing monitoring equipment and related services.
Enhance public safety in African countries in the areas of social security and emergency management, ensuring a stable development environment through the application of digital technology. At the same time, strengthen coordination of policies, laws and regulations in the digital field between China and Africa, improving the stability of China-Africa investment and cooperation under the BRI and further expand the governance exchanges and deepen mutual trust in the digital domain.
China and African countries, taking the opportunity of the new session of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum, will expand cooperation in the digital economy within the framework of the China-Africa Cooperation 2035 Vision. This will drive new achievements in China-Africa cooperation in the new era. The high-quality joint construction of the BRI between China and Africa demonstrates strong resilience, vitality, and broad development prospects, opening the next golden decade.
The writer is an assistant research fellow at the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
