IN BRIEF (Page 2)

China, Africa to boost industrial cooperation

Officials from China, Africa and the World Bank on June 30 pledged at a two-day investment forum to strengthen industrial cooperation between China and Africa to boost the continent's economic development. The forum was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Chinese Vice-Minister of Finance Liu Jianhua said there is huge room for cooperation, given that Chinese businesses are investing abroad and African countries are attracting foreign capital, technology and development experience. She said China is willing to help Africa build infrastructure networks and achieve industrialization by scaling up financial, technological and human resources support to Africa.

China invested a record high of $4 billion in Africa last year, up 14 percent from a year earlier. At least 2,500 large and medium-sized Chinese companies are operating in Africa.

Huawei to train Ghanaian students

Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies announced it will for the next four years offer 15 training opportunities for top Ghanaian students majoring in information and communications technology.

It is part of its global corporate social responsibility program, Seeds for the Future, launched in Thailand in 2008 and implemented in 40 countries, benefiting over 10,000 students from more than 100 universities.

The CEO of Huawei's Ghana branch, Xu Hu, said at a launch ceremony on June 26 that beneficiaries selected from Ghanaian institutions would travel to China to gain valuable experience.

"Kenya is the first African country where Huawei has launched its Seeds for the Future program. We are happy to see Ghana become the first West African country to launch this program," Xu said.

Chinese Ambassador to Ghana Sun Baohong said Huawei is one of the many Chinese enterprises that had made remarkable contributions to Ghana's economic development, social progress and improvement in people's livelihoods.

African bank chief in AIIB strategy talks

African Development Bank President Donald Kaberuka will travel to China to discuss strategies to ensure the proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank focuses on challenges that face most African countries.

"We have been working with Asian countries to ensure the AIIB's future investments benefit African countries," said Kaberuka, who arrived in Nairobi on a regional farewell tour.

The China-initiated bank took a historic step forward on June 29 with the signing of a framework for the 57-member institution.

"This bank will invest Asian savings on profitable ventures. We highly support this initiative because it would be another vehicle for investment. We are creating more investment vehicles to ensure Africa benefits from such ventures," Kaberuka said.

China, Kazakhstan agree on strategies

Chinese Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli and Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov have agreed to align their countries' growth strategies and boost bilateral cooperation on production capacity.

China and Kazakhstan are indeed comprehensive strategic partners, said Zhang, who arrived in Astana on June 24 for a three-day visit.

He recalled that, during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Kazakhstan in May and Masimov's trip to China in March, the two sides reached an important consensus on consolidating bilateral ties and practical cooperation, including collaboration on production capacity.

The vice-premier said his visit was aimed at promoting implementation of the agreements the two nations have reached and further beefing up bilateral cooperation.

Morocco hails Beijing's common destiny idea

Morocco identifies with China's notion of a community of common destiny, and is ready to boost cooperation with China in all areas, according to the Chinese envoy to the North African nation.

Sun Shuzhong, China's ambassador to Morocco, said the kingdom is a long-time friend and partner of China.

The community notion, proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, signifies that all nations should raise awareness about humanity sharing a community of common destiny, pull together in times of trouble, and strive for common development and lasting peace for the world.

"Morocco welcomes the notion of a community of common destiny and would like to join hands with China to promote friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas," Sun said.

Sun believes that nations across the globe have already been integrated into such a community and have become highly interdependent in terms of spurring economic growth, technological advancement and development.

S. Africa's industry needs Chinese investment

South Africa's reindustrialization programs need investment from countries such as China because the international situation around manufacturing has changed completely, said Henk Langenhoven, chief economist at the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa.

"In terms of the biggest countries that are exporting to South Africa, China was not in that list 10 years ago. However, in the past five years China has dominated the list of exporters to South Africa," said Langenhoven.

Two-way trade volume between China and Africa exceeded $220 billion for the first time last year, and China has been Africa's largest trade partner for the past five years.

"We are now in a situation where Europe is now like an old, sick man because its economy is shrinking," Langenhoven said.

The capacity of China is also seen in steel production, where it contributes two-thirds of the world's capacity, he said.

China provides help for Somali orphanage

The Chinese embassy in Somalia has provided education facilities and furniture to Badbado Orphanage Center in Mogadishu.

"When notified of the situation at the center, I was shocked, and then we decided to offer them assistance, and I am very happy to do that," said Chinese Ambassador to Somalia Wei Hongtian at the handover ceremony.

The ambassador said the Chinese embassy would continue its financial support for Somali children.

The director of the center, Yusuf Yasin, said the Chinese embassy responded to the request for assistance, saying this shows how Beijing wants to help the Somali people. He said the Chinese embassy is the first embassy in the country that provided support.

The aid consists of items such as chairs, tables, backpacks and blankets. The center houses 121 orphans.

Chinese-sponsored race in Addis Ababa

A 12-kilometer relay race with professional and amateur runners was held on June 28 in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.

International Fast Highway Engineering, a branch of China Communication Construction Co, sponsored and co-hosted the race with the Great Ethiopian Run and the Addis Ababa City Roads Authority.

The relay competition was held on the Lebu-Tulu Dimtu road section, which is part of the Addis Ababa-Adama toll motorway phase II outer ring road project being carried out by IFH Engineering/CCCC. The competition celebrated progress on the Lebu-Tulu Dimtu section, with participation of a variety of runners grouped under six categories.

The contestants participated in two categories: Professional athletes and top athletes from different clubs or corporate and fun runners under six different clusters including government organizations, businesses, embassies, hotels, radio stations and gyms.

Ermias Ayele, director for the Great Ethiopian Run, said athletes from 25 clubs and fun runners from 60 organizations took part.

Report: Highway debt being reduced

Toll road policies in China need to be improved, but the debt remains manageable, said Wang Tai, an official with Ministry of Transportation.

By the end of last year, the construction debt balance had decreased from 4.27 trillion yuan ($688 billion) of total accumulated debt to 3.85 trillion yuan, which means nearly 10 percent of the debt has been paid off, according to a statistical bulletin on road toll fees released by the ministry on June 30.

A total of 263.7 billion yuan - from the 391.6 billion yuan collected in toll fees last year - went to principal and interest payments related to construction, with the rest covering road maintenance, taxes and overheads, the report said.

The amount repaid exceeded what was required, Wang said. "Heavy debt has to do with rising costs and the road construction binge since 2010, which saw the addition of more than 30 percent to highway miles," Wang said. "The policy needs to be improved to ease the debt burden."

TCM cancer treatment enters final trials in US

A traditional Chinese medicine preparation used to treat cancer and boost the immune system has been given the go-ahead for a third phase of clinical trials in the United States, the last major hurdle for those wishing to launch new drugs in the market.

The drug, Kanglaite Injection, contains anticancer compounds extracted from the seed of coix, a grasslike relative of maize, and has been approved and used as a cancer treatment in China since 1995.

It has been used by more than 200,000 patients and is among the best-selling cancer treatments in the country.

Its inventor, Li Dapeng, has been seeking registration for the drug. The US Food and Drug Administration gave the go-ahead for clinical trials in 2001. Kangalite is the first TCM injection treatment to go through the FDA approval process.

State reins in officials' spending

An annual audit released on June 28 showed central government spending on overseas visits, official vehicles and receptions dropped sharply last year as the country stepped up austerity efforts.

Spending in the three categories decreased by 27 percent year-on-year in a random audit of 44 central government agencies carried out by the National Audit Office.

The final accounts showed that the central government spent 5.88 billion yuan ($947 million) on the three areas last year, 1.27 billion yuan less than was budgeted. Among the expenditures, 1.6 billion yuan was spent on overseas visits, 3.6 billion yuan on the purchase and maintenance of government vehicles and 661 million yuan on official receptions.

"However, irregularities regarding financial rules still exist," said Liu Jiayi, the office's auditor general, pointing out that 33 central government organs were found to have hired vehicles from companies as regular official cars.

Chinese becoming taller, heavier

Chinese people are eating more thanks to their deeper pockets, making them slightly taller, but also a lot fatter, according to a National Health and Family Planning Commission report on June 30.

In the decade since 2002, when China first released a national report on citizens' nutrition and health, the proportion of overweight adults has increased by 32 percent and obese adults by 67 percent.

The statistics for children aged 6 to 17 are even more alarming, with the number of overweight kids doubling and obese children tripling.

At a news conference about the report, Zhao Wenhua, deputy director of the Nutrition and Health Institution of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the increase was larger than that in the industrial world in general. But the rates in China are still lower than in Western countries such as the United States, she said.

Tourists to get tax refunds on shopping

Beijing and Shanghai will offer tax refunds on purchases made by overseas visitors starting on July 1, kicking off a program to bolster tourism and sales of items popular with foreign visitors, such as souvenirs, silk, porcelain and traditional Chinese medicine.

The rebate program is meant to significantly stimulate the development of Beijing's tourism, which has seen slow growth in spending and a decrease in visitors, said Wang Yue, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development.

"The tax refund policy is a new step in building Beijing as an internationalized tourism destination," Wang said.

Tourists from overseas, as well as those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan who have stayed in the Chinese mainland for no more than 183 days, will be eligible for an 11 percent rebate on consumer goods bought at designated stores.

China Daily-Xinhua

(China Daily Africa Weekly 07/03/2015 page2)