Focac summit opens today, Chakwera makes address
President Lazarus Chakwera is today expected to attend and address a high-level meeting on quality Belt and Road Cooperation as the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (Focac) Summit opens in Beijing, China.
Host President Xi Jinping is scheduled to officially open the summit, which is held once every three years, at 10am Chinese local time after which Chakwera and other leaders will take turns to make their presentations at different high-level meetings.
Presidential press secretary Anthony Kasunda confirmed the engagements in an interview in Beijing yesterday.
He said: “It is true that His Excellency will attend the official opening of Focac which will be presided over by President Xi Jinping and after that will attend a high-level meeting on high quality Belt and Road Cooperation which will be chaired by China’s Vice-Prime Minister and member of the political bureau of China’s People’s Congress [CPC] Ding Xuexiang.”
According to China Global Television Network (CGTN), at least 40 African leaders, head of the African Union and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres will attend the forum this year.
Briefing the media in Beijing on Tuesday, Chinese Government special representative on African Affairs Liu Yuxi said this is the largest event China has held in terms of “scale and number of attendees”.
He said: “The forum will kick off on September 5 when Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver a keynote address to elaborate on new ideas and proposals.
“There will also be four high-level meetings focusing on industrialisation, agricultural modernisation, peace and security and high quality development of the Belt and Road initiative. These meetings will be chaired by senior officials from both China and Africa.”
According to Liu, at the end of this year’s Focac, a declaration and an action plan for implementation of high-quality China-Africa cooperation over the next three years will be released.
Besides today’s meeting, Chakwera has held talks with Xi and Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng who hosted the Malawian delegation to dinner.
Meetings with leaders of global influence such as Xi and Han enhances Malawi’s visibility in the eyes of China, the second largest economy in the world and a major source of support to developing nations.
The President also met Huawei Technologies vice-president Li Junfeng and his team who committed continued investment to help Malawi attain smart country status.
Said Chakwera after the meeting: “Huawei Technologies has been a valuable partner in building the digital capacity of Malawi across overlapping sectors via ground-breaking innovations in e-government, e-health and e-learning, among others.”
Huawei Technologies has also helped in the construction and continued technical support of the Malawi National Data Centre as well as implementation of the Malawi National Fibre Backbone Project that is facilitating creation of a digital economy, a digital society and a digital government in line with the aspirations of the Malawi 2063 long-term development strategy.
