|
|
African Union, China Ink Proposal for China-Built Road, Rail, Air Transport Routes To Connect African Capitals
3 February 2015
EIRNS —Just a few days before the Jan. 30 African Union Heads of State Summit at AU headquarters in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the AU and China for a plan to connect major capital cities across Africa with road, rail, and air transport routes, to be built by China. "This is the document of the century ... the aviation agreement marks a new area for co-operation between the AU and China," Zhang Ming, Chinese vice-minister for foreign affairs, said after the signing ceremony on Jan. 27 at the AU headquarters. It has always been notoriously difficult to travel easily between certain parts of Africa without connecting via Europe. Ming stated, "Africa is a vast continent where it must be possible to travel without transiting via Paris or London." African Union Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma welcomed the commitment of the African Union and China to develop the transportation infrastructure that Africa so desperately needs. AU summit participants praised the African Union-China deal to build transport infrastructure in Africa as "the most substantive project the AU has ever signed with a partner." Douglas Degroot |
