China-Africa consensus to safeguard common interests of Global South: FM

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with January Yusuf Makamba, Tanzania's Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, in Beijing, May 17, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday that China is willing to work with Tanzania to enhance global influence of China-Africa Dar es Salaam Consensus to contribute more to safeguarding the common interests of the Global South.

He made the remarks when meeting with visiting Tanzania's Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation January Yusuf Makamba in Beijing.

Scholars from 50 countries jointly released the Dar es Salaam Consensus, with an aim to offer approaches and solutions to major global issues and challenges, at the 13th Meeting of the China-Africa Think Tanks Forum held in Tanzania's port city of Dar es Salaam in March.

Wang said many scholars believed this was the first international consensus proposed by the Global South rather than imposed by the Global North, which expressed the collective voice of the Global South.

He underscored that the significant value of this consensus lies in African countries beginning to consciously and independently explore a modernization path that suits African conditions.

It also indicated that nations on the continent, after gaining political independence in the last century, are even more eager to achieve true economic independence and autonomous development through their own efforts, he added.

Wang expressed China's readiness to work with Tanzania to deepen research of the consensus, translate it into concrete practices and make greater contributions to promoting South-South cooperation.

Makamba said the Dar es Salaam Consensus is an important understanding reached between African countries and China to address shared global challenges.

Upholding principles of mutual respect, openness, win-win cooperation, shared prosperity and development promotion, he said the consensus helps to maximize consensus-building efforts.

It also helps to establish a more just world economic order, point the right way for African modernization, and garner more international support and resources, he added.

Tanzania hopes to work together with China and other African countries to elevate this consensus from an academic achievement to an intergovernmental cooperation consensus between China and Africa, he said.