Mutambara wants Africa to set the agenda for its relations with China

Zimbabwe's former Deputy Prime Minister, Professor Arthur Mutambara, has emphasized that Africa must take the lead in setting the agenda for its relations and engagements with China ahead of the upcoming Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Focac) summit in Beijing, scheduled for September 4-6.

The summit, themed "Joining Hands to Advance Modernisation and Build a High-Level China-Africa Community with a Shared Future," marks a significant diplomatic event and a continuation of the strong ties established during previous Focac summits in 2006, 2015, and 2018.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong, in a recent news briefing, highlighted that the summit will include a welcome banquet, an opening ceremony, and four high-level meetings focused on state governance, industrialization and agricultural modernization, peace and security, as well as high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. The agenda also includes the eighth China-Africa Entrepreneurs' Conference and other related activities.

President Xi Jinping of China will officially open the summit and deliver a keynote address, where he is expected to present new ideas and proposals for building a high-level community with a shared future between China and Africa. He will also announce new actions and measures to enhance practical cooperation with the continent.

Mutambara, stressing Africa's vast mineral wealth, insists that the continent must define its interests and engage with China as regional blocs or a unified continent rather than as individual nations. He argues that by doing so, Africa can secure the best possible outcomes from its resources within the framework of a true win-win partnership.

"In the so-called win-win framework between China and Africa, Africans must define what constitutes a WIN for Africa," Mutambara stated.