The building of the China-aided future headquarters of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) started in the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa.
The groundbreaking and launching ceremony for the project was attended by H.E. Amira Elfadil Mohamed Elfadil, Commissioner for Social Affairs and H.E. Ambassador Yuxi Liu, Head of the Mission of the People’s Republic of China to Ethiopia, on behalf of the African Union Commission and the Government of China. In the presence of members of the AU Committee, the Government of China and the Government of Ethiopia, the event took place.
The iconic project is scheduled to be completed within 25 months, occupying an area of 90,000 square metres and with a gross construction area of approximately 40,000 square metres. New office houses, high-end labs, and accessories can be fitted for it. Once completed, another landmark avenue to the capital of Ethiopia will be the future headquarters of the Africa CDC, which will also house the China-assisted AU headquarters, the tallest building in Ethiopia so far.
Commissioner Amira Elfadil, speaking on behalf of the Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union, H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, thanked the Government of China for its offer to create the building and for its continuing support for the AU. She said the Social Relations Department collaborated with other agencies and divisions of the AU to ensure that all paperwork and permissions needed to carry out the project were processed quickly.
Commissioner Amira Elfadil said that the African Union (AU)-China relationship is political, with the AU extending its hands to all partners seeking reciprocal cooperation with Africa. The Social Relations Commissioner talked about the problems surrounding the procurement of vaccines in Africa.
The Commissioner concluded her declaration by ensuring that the development of five Regional Partnering Centres in Egypt, Gabon, Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia for the regions of Northern Africa, Central Africa, Eastern Africa, Western Africa and Southern Africa will begin in the immediate future for the other CDCs in Africa.
H.E. Mr. Qian Keming, Deputy Minister of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, said that establishing the Africa CDC is a tangible action to follow up on the promises reached at the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). “The initiative will push the ground breaking ceremony into a different stage. Hope that this flagship initiative in China-Africa realistic cooperation will help the African people and become another shining example of China-Africa friendship,” Mr. Qian added.
“China and Africa have been supporting each other. China received important supports from the African Union and African countries as it faced the toughest time. China sent medical expert teams to 16 African countries when the epidemic entered Africa, established pair-up hospital cooperation with 42 African countries, delivered immediate medical supplies to the African Union and virtually all African countries,” said Ambassador Yuxi. The Ambassador emphasised China’s contribution to the adoption of the G20 Debt Reduction Initiative.
