China Held Forum to Foster Digital Economy in Africa
On 29 July 2024, the Forum on China-Africa Digital Cooperation took place in Beijing. The event is organized by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in a bid to ‘accelerate the #digitalization of Africa.’ The Forum was attended by 40 African countries at either the ministerial or ambassadorial level.
In his welcome address, Chinese Minister of #IT JIN Zhuanglong highlighted China’s achievements in the fields of 5G, 6G, #AI, quantum computing and network security. He added that China is ready to apply and adapt its technologies to the African context.
In terms of pragmatic cooperation, Minister Jin suggested reinforcing the partnership between China and Africa in the areas of mobile communications, fiber optic backbones, submarine cables and the setting up of data centers. Another promising area would be the development of eCommerce.
For instance, Chinese consumers are able to order flowers from South Africa via popular eCommerce platforms. The flowers are first flown to Kunming before getting redistributed around China. In the other direction, African consumers can also order Chinese goods from various eCommerce platforms available within their geographies.
Ugandan Minister of ICT Chris Baryomunsi thanked Huawei for its role in laying the national fiber backbone and to upgrade the technical capacity of Ugandans. Already, the optical backbone covers 50% of the Ugandan territory and full coverage is expected within the next few years.
In the same line of work, Huawei provided Orange Guinea with a cost-effective internet connectivity and mobile communications solution using base stations powered by solar, which is particularly suited for rural areas.
In addition, China and Africa will promote exchanges between universities and think tanks in the field of #digitalization. Capacity building for Africans will also be stepped up to foster technology adoption.
In that regard, China plans to train at least 1,000 personnel to enhance digital capabilities. China also plans to implement ‘ten digital transformation demonstration projects’ in Africa over the next three years.
At the end of the Forum, China and twenty-six African states jointly issued an “Action Plan for the Development of China-Africa Digital Cooperation.” The Action Plan calls for consultation and cooperation along six axes: Policy, Infrastructure, Innovation, Transformation, Security and Digital Capability.
The Forum on China-Africa Digital Cooperation is part of the series of events leading to the upcoming 9th #FOCAC Summit (#FOCAC2024), where #digitalization is believed to be one of the key items on the agenda.