Toward common development

Recent data by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development show that about 75 percent of the value of BRICS' foreign direct investment projects in Africa for the period 2003 to 2012 were in manufacturing and services sectors. Only a meager 10 percent and 26 percent of the number and value of projects were channeled to natural resources. It is also true that some of the African countries which are relatively least endowed with natural resources are the major beneficiaries of Chinese investments and trade relations.

The China-Africa partnership should work to ensure the investments that are made contribute effectively to the rapid transformation of African economies by, among others, overhauling and modernizing current production structure, directing technology and adequate resources to small and medium-sized enterprises, and forging strategic linkages with local African producers with a view to getting value-added, high quality products exported to China and other parts of the world.

China-Africa relations have come a long way. A lot has been achieved and a lot more remains to be gained through the Chinese dream and African dream. While China-Africa relations offer the continent avenues and opportunities to diversify its trading partners and forge new mutually beneficial partnerships, it is important that such benefits trickle down to the people.

That said, universities in Africa are key players in a global system increasingly driven by knowledge exchange, information technology and new ideas. We, indeed, live in a historic epoch. As remarked by one astute scholar: "Universities nurture the hopes of the world: in solving challenges that cross borders; in unlocking and harnessing new knowledge; in building cultural and political understanding; and in modeling environments that promote dialogue and debate."

Universities in Tanzania should therefore take their rightful place in enhancing China-Africa cooperation. Academic and cultural exchanges will be crucial in this regard.

The University of Dar es Salaam and I believe other universities on the continent already maintain academic exchanges with their counterpart universities in China should make efforts to ensure that cooperation is not confined to government levels but also percolates to the people. President Xi, during his visit to Tanzania in March, rightly said that greater emphasis should be placed "on people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and Africa so as to improve mutual understanding and perception".

Chairman Mao Zedong once said: "Our duty is to hold ourselves responsible to the people. Every word, every act and every policy must conform to the people's interests, and if mistakes occur, they must be corrected that is what being responsible to the people means."

On that note, therefore, whatever we discuss, plan and act in the spirit of achieving our cherished goal of creating and fostering a win-win cooperation framework, people's interests should be at the core.

The author is former deputy secretary-general of the United Nations.

(China Daily 08/31/2013 page5)