 |
| Dr Mayaki |
DOREEN NAWA
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
THE New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) says the
China-Africa relationship is not romantic.
NEPAD chief executive officer Ibrahim Mayaki said China is
an economic power that Africa has to deal with in order to realize the
continent’s industrialization dream.
Dr Mayaki said the
current configuration of the world places china as a critical actor because
china has money.
“In terms of reserves, China has trillions. We cannot do
without China. The question is we need to be profoundly conscious of our
interests when dealing with China, this is not a romantic relationship. It’s not
that we love them and they love us, no, there is no love into that. It has to be based on our interests,” Dr
Mayaki said.
Dr Mayaki was speaking in an interview yesterday at the
sidelines of the on-going 2018 Programme for Infrastructure Development in
Africa (PIDA) Week themed “Realising Africa’s Integration through Smart
Infrastructure and Good Governance” in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
Dr Mayaki said Africa needs to know its interests which are
fundamentally to protect and create the jobs of the continents youthful
population.
“Africa has 400 million youths that need employment. In
every African country today, we have the common factor of youths protesting. We
have to be very careful and if we do not accelerate the industrialization
dream, then we are in trouble,” Dr Mayaki said.
He said China has to help Africa industrialize by
transferring the necessary skills that can help the continent in its quest to
industrialize.
“Africa should not be a dumping ground for Chinese products
and Chinese medicine. Just like Japan did for China, we need China to do the
same to Africa. When you see most brands
of television sets like Panasonic, it is a Japanese brand but made in China. We
want to see Huawei made in Africa,” Dr Mayaki said.
He said China should localize their technology, products and
services thereby helping in transforming Africa.
For Africa to develop, Dr Mayaki said the continent has to
prioritise industrialization adding that China is a recent example of how
industry can drive economic transformation.
He said Africa must develop its industries in manufacturing,
technology, agriculture, banking and finance, transport which will result in
large scale production of goods that will be available to the African consumers
at much cheaper rates.
Through industrialisation, Dr Mayaki says Africa can
guarantee that its people will enjoy a rise in the standard of living.
No comments:
Post a Comment