Africa can take a ride on China's development: Senegalese ambassador

As China is upgrading its industries, Africa can take a ride to achieve development, Abdoulaye Fall, Senegalese Ambassador to China, said in an exclusive interview with People's Daily before he left for Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), calling on Africa to beef up cooperation with China.

"Driven by rising labor cost, China is transforming and upgrading its industries and putting more emphasis on advanced technologies."Fall believed such a momentum will certainly bring infinite opportunities to Africa.

Fifteen years after African leaders gathered in Beijing to witness the onset of the first FOCAC, fruitful results have been scored. The biggest harvest of the Forum, in Fall's eyes, is embodied in enhanced mutual trust and multiple cooperation between China and Africa.

According to the ambassador, it is every African's wish to host a FOCAC summit in the continent.

"African people are looking forward to a closer all-round cooperation with China to board on the high-speed train of China's economic development."he added.

Hailing China as a model for African countries, Fall also expressed his admiration for China to grow into the world's second largest economy.

He believed that there is a great need for Africa to cooperate with China to achieve industrialization, agri-modernization, food self-supply and improvement of people's health.

A lot of landmark architectures in Senegal were built with the support of China, Fall said, citing the Senegal National Grand Theater and Museum of Black civilizations as examples.

The theater is the largest aid project of China in the country since 2005 when the two countries resumed diplomatic ties, while the museum, now serving as a window to showcase Black civilizations, brings the dreams of generations of Africans come true, according to him.

The ambassador appreciated China's role in helping local people to realize an early food self-supply by sending expert teams to offer training on wetland rice and vegetables planting.

The first expressway in Senegal, also financed and constructed by Chinese company, will open to traffic soon, he added.

"Senegal can hardly achieve development and prosperity without China."Fall stressed.

Fall added that the Senegalese government is now working on television digitalization with the help of China's technology company Huawei. In the future, cooperation in digitized information will be boosted further.

Apart from this, Senegal expects more participation from Chinese enterprises in its property projects to meet the country's increasing housing demand, he added.