Addis Ababa — A delegation led by the Executive Director for Institute of Foreign Affairs (IFA) Jafar Bedru participated in a high-level international conference in Shanghai, China from 27-28 June 2024.

The conference titled "Building Global Development Transition Partnership in Africa: The Roles of MDBs and China" was hosted by the Shanghai Institute for International Studies (SIIS) in collaboration with China Society for African Studies.

The high-level international conference had four major themes aligned with strengthening the China-Africa Cooperation.

The conference highlighted the various roles China has been playing in Africa's development and vice versa.

The future of China-African relations that need to be strengthened were also issues highlighted in the conference.

The Executive Director IFA, Jafar Bedru in his Key Note address stressed the urgent need for further China-Africa Cooperation.

He underlined that Ethiopia has been benefiting from China-Africa relations, especially in green transitions with the subsequent construction of Industrial parks.

Jafar also mentioned the bilateral relations between Ethiopia and China that progressed over the years and currently reached an all-weather strategic partnership. He also, stressed that Ethiopia is the Chinese gateway to Africa.

The Conference was attended by government representatives, executives, researchers, and policymakers invited from around Africa and China, according to IFA.

Other Ethiopian think tanks such as the Ethiopian Policy Studies Institute (PSI) and the Addis Ababa University Institute for Development Research (IDR) were also in attendance.