Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, stated in Beijing on the 24th that China's experience of rapid economic growth in the past few decades can provide a "roadmap" for Africa. If China's experience is borrowed, Africa is also expected to achieve "leapfrog economic development" in the future. This renowned American scholar stated that China Africa cooperation will be the key to achieving rapid development in Africa in the coming decades.
On October 24th, the press conference of the "Report on Chinese Enterprise Investment in Africa (2023)" was held in Beijing. More than 200 people from African government officials, representatives of United Nations agencies in China, representatives of African entrepreneurs, as well as representatives from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, universities, academic think tanks, and enterprises, participated in the conference to discuss the path of investment cooperation between China and Africa. Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, made the above statement during his speech at the conference.
Sachs stated in his speech that after decades of reform and opening up and unremitting efforts, China has achieved very impressive results, not only becoming an important participant in the world economy, but also becoming a "leader" in the world economy. China has accumulated good practical experience in developing its economy and set an example for other countries. The population of Africa is similar to that of China, and by drawing on China's development experience, Africa is expected to achieve leapfrog economic development similar to China in the future.
He stated that currently, Africa still has many shortcomings in infrastructure construction, digital economy construction, and other aspects, making it difficult to sustain high-quality and high-level foreign investment. Africa needs to build a balanced policy framework through comprehensive and in-depth practical cooperation with China to make up for this deficiency. In addition, in areas such as healthcare, digital, and services, Africa also needs to create a better financing environment to attract international investment and achieve long-term development.
In Saxe's view, China is a good partner. China can not only provide support to Africa in various aspects such as human capital, commercial capital, and infrastructure construction, but also lead in renewable energy, 5G, cutting-edge scientific research, and other areas. More importantly, the "the Belt and Road" initiative proposed by China and China Africa economic and trade cooperation complement each other, creating a good trade environment, bringing more market opportunities, helping to solve Africa's current poverty, lack of infrastructure and other problems, and helping Africa's integration and modernization into the fast lane.