The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, received at the Headquarters of the African Union, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 11 January 2023, H.E. Mr. Qin GANG, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, in his first official visit to the AU since assuming office.
The visit commenced with a meeting between the Chairperson and the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, during which they exchanged views on various continental and international issues of common interest and concern.
The AUC Chairperson and the Foreign Affairs Minister then continued their conversation in the presence of the Senior Officials from the AU Commission and Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China during which they discussed widely on issues related to strengthening the partnership between the AU and China, and ways to enhance cooperation in support of the efforts made by the AU in the continent.
Following the Strategic Dialogue, the Chairperson and the Chinese Minister inaugurated the new Headquarters of the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) located at the African Village, south of Addis Ababa.
In his remarks at the Inauguration ceremony, the AUC Chairperson said that the Africa CDC headquarters is only the visible face of a health cooperation that has its roots in the depths of Sino-African relations. The Chairperson added that AU Commission and the Africa CDC along with RECs and Member States, having taking stock of the structural weaknesses that have characterized Africa's health system, launched the New Health Order for Africa in 2021, which focused on strengthening public health institutions, public health personnel, manufacture of vaccines, action-oriented partnerships, and increasing national resources for health security.
"Ultimately, the objective is to achieve self-sufficiency of public health systems in Africa and remedy to the current global imbalances by giving more weight to the voice of Africa, when it comes to health problems in the world" he added, noting that this objective is gradually taking shape with the adoption by the AU Heads of State and Government of the decision creating the African Medicines Agency. He called on AU various partners to support this important project to its full realization. "If Africa does well, the rest of the world will feel it... It is therefore a collective effort" he concluded.
On his part, the Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister reiterated that strengthening solidarity and cooperation with African countries will always be a diplomatic priority for China, regardless how the international environment changes.
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"Over the past decade, with the joint guidance and commitment of Chinese and African leaders, China-Africa relations have made historic achievements that impressed the whole world, and entered a new era of building a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future. Our cooperation against COVID-19 has delivered good results. All this embodies the vibrant spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation." he added.
The two principals toured the Africa CDC new Headquarter and briefed by the project Manger about different departments and the project models. They plant trees at conclusion of ceremony.
The Africa CDC HQ building project is supported by the Chinese government following it commitments at the 2018 Beijing Summit and the 7th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China - Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Beijing. The new headquarter is expected to become one of the best-equipped centres for disease control in Africa, allowing Africa CDC to play its role as the technical institution coordinating disease prevention, surveillance and control in the continent in partnership with the national public health institutes and ministries of health of Member States.
