China announces joint effort to promote industrialization with support for G20 initiative

China announced a joint initiative with South Africa to support the modernization of Africa through international cooperation that covers key areas ranging from finance to infrastructure and green industrialization.

Speaking at a launch ceremony for the initiative during the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, over the weekend, Vice-Foreign Minister Miao Deyu said the initiative is an action to implement the G20 initiative on supporting industrialization in Africa and least-developed countries.

China will support African countries to “independently explore modernization paths” suited to their national conditions, he said.

As a key effort to promote green industrialization in Africa, China, together with Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, also signed an international economic and trade cooperation initiative on green mining.

“Green and low-carbon development is injecting new impetus into the high-quality development of the minerals sector and creating new development opportunities for all countries,” said Miao.

In many African countries, mining is a major contributor to economic growth. Miao said China welcomes other countries and international organizations joining the group to safeguard “fair, reasonable, stable, and unimpeded” green mining and supply chains.

Miao explained that China will support environmentally friendly and green industrialization, and technology-empowered new industrialization.

Thandi Moraka, deputy minister of International Relations and Cooperation in South Africa, said they support the beneficiation of minerals where they are extracted in different parts of Africa. Beneficiation is the treatment of raw materials to improve their physical or chemical properties. She said the initiative will add value to Africa’s modernization.

The initiative is expected to help African countries diversify their economies and produce manufactured goods to tackle poverty and unemployment, said Moraka. The cooperation should help African countries address their priorities, which include a technology leap, addressing the infrastructure gap, and making Africa a global hub of innovation, she added.

Rebeca Grynspan, secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, said African countries are exporting critical minerals in their raw state without benefiting from them. She expressed support for the initiative, saying the supply chain requires a sustainable partnership and that this cooperation should improve productive capacity and knowledge-sharing, technology transfer, and trade facilitation in Africa.

“We welcome this multilateral initiative. China is writing a new story of multipolarity with new inclusion. This cooperation promises a common gain and shared prosperity,” she said.

Grynspan said Africa exports $266 billion worth of critical minerals, and 3 percent of the value stays in Africa.

The cooperation will entail green, coordinated, and sustainable industrialization to ensure there is economic growth and poverty reduction in Africa. The cooperation will be implemented based on respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of African countries.

South Africa hosted the G20 Leaders’ Summit on Nov 22 and 23 in Johannesburg. During the summit, China also pledged to support African countries in implementing their development blueprint, Agenda 2063, and the African Continental Free Trade Area.

The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.