CIDCA official attends policy briefing on China-sponsored HR training for AU

The Chinese Mission to the African Union (AU) and the African Union Commission (AUC) jointly held a policy briefing on China-sponsored human resources training for the AU, the first of its kind, at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on March 8. 

Meng Ran, deputy director-general of the China International Development Cooperation Agency's Department of International Cooperation, attended and addressed the meeting online upon invitation.

Over 300 representatives, including Head of the Chinese Mission to the AU Hu Changchun, AU Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation Mohammed Belhocine, as well as heads of AU departments and diplomats from multiple countries stationed at the AU, attended the meeting on and offline. 

Hu pointed out that cooperation in human resource development between China and the AU has developed distinctive characteristics and yielded fruitful results. 

The Chinese side is willing to work with the AU to expedite the establishment of a comprehensive cooperation framework across multiple fields, and support the AU's "Year of Education" program, to jointly build a higher-level China-Africa community with a shared future, Hu added. 

Belhocine thanked China for its selfless support, emphasized the key role of education in promoting sustainable development, and lauded China's training programs as being practical, efficient and wide-ranging. 

He encouraged AU officials to actively participate in the programs to build up their capacity, and contribute to the realization of the AU's Agenda 2063.

In her speech, Meng introduced the concept and achievements of China's foreign aid cooperation in human resources development over the past 70 years, and said that China is willing to further align with the AU's "Year of Education" program under the framework of the Global Development Initiative and share the concept and practice of Chinese modernization, to help cultivate "Africans fit for the 21st century", and support African countries in exploring sustainable development paths in line with their own realities.