On January 28, 2010, Zhai Jun, special envoy of the Chinese government and vice minister of foreign affairs, said that the Chinese government highly values the cooperation with African countries in the field of information and communication technology (ICT).

In the exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency, Zhai said that the communication authorities of the Chinese government hope to make substantial contributions to promoting the economic development and modernizing the ICT infrastructure of African countries by strengthening communication and cooperation with the communication authorities of African countries, establishing consultation mechanisms and in the meantime supporting strong Chinese enterprises in doing business in Africa.

Zhai said that the cooperation between China and Africa in the ICT field played a positive role in upgrading the ICT level of African countries, driving local economic development and narrowing the digital divide. Over the past 10 years, the communication equipment manufactured by Chinese enterprises captured some market share in the African market and the brand of Chinese products was established. The products and services offered by Chinese communication equipment vendors represented by Huawei and ZTE have covered 50 countries and served more than 300 million users in Africa. They constructed more than 40 3G networks for over 30 African countries and built up national backbone optic fiber communication networks and e-government networks for over 20 African countries. They set up representative offices in 48 African countries and established the regional R&D center and many training centers in Africa.

Zhai said that the cooperation between China and Africa in the ICT field also contributed to the creation of jobs for local residents, transfer of technologies to African countries and improvement of the livelihood of the African people. The Chinese enterprises lay store by creating jobs for local residents, which accounted for more than 60% of the jobs created by the Chinese companies in Africa. Each year, they trained more than 20,000 technicians for Africa. They did their best to make local purchase, with Huawei alone procuring $480 million goods and services from Africa in 2008. They paid attention to fulfilling their corporate social responsibilities. They funded schools and hospitals in the poor regions in Africa. They participated in the protection of wild animals in Africa. What they did in Africa won wide recognition from the governments and people of African countries.

Zhai arrived at Addis Ababa on January 27. He will attend the 14th African Union Summit to be held in Addis Ababa from January 31 to February 2, 2010 as the observer. The theme of this summit is “ICT in Africa: Challenges and Prospects for Development”. The summit aims at reviewing the tremendous progress made by Africa in recent years and discussing opportunities, challenges, and prospects for Africa in the ICT field. The summit will also discuss a number of issues including the African integration process, climate change, UN reform and regional conflicts.