Development is the eternal theme of human society, the common pursuit of all nations and a vital measure of progress in our times. For the recent years, China has actively promoted the return of development issues to the center of the international agenda, committed to working together to address the global development deficit. Therefore, the international community must not only overcome the interference of certain countries politicizing and marginalizing development issues, but also generate more wisdom and consensus in the realm of knowledge and ideas, producing greater developmental knowledge. The development practices of modernization across nations demonstrate that knowledge is a precious resource for progress. Within China's proposed Global Development Initiative, promoting global knowledge sharing on development is also a crucial aspect of cooperation.
In March 2024, the "Africa-China Dar es Salaam Consensus" co-issued by scholars from 50 African and Chinese countries at the China-Africa Think Tanks Forum represents an exciting achievement in generating new development knowledge and innovating traditional development economics. The Ninth FOCAC will be convened in Beijing this autumn, with the recent China-Africa Think Tanks Forum held in Dar es Salaam serving as one of its key side events. The Consensus reached at the meeting is regarded by many scholars as the first international consensus born in the Global South rather than imposed by the North. Former World Bank Chief Economist Justin Yifu Lin stated that this Consensus served as a guide for enhancing South-South cooperation, hoping that the global community can hear the spirit it conveyed. This Consensus is expected to evolve from an academic achievement into an intergovernmental cooperation agreement between China and Africa, reflecting the Global South's growing self-awareness and development capacity. This will help identify the right modernization paths for African and other developing countries while securing greater international support and resources.
First, this Consensus has explored a development path co-recognized by China and Africa. As a key highlight, the Africa-China Dar es Salaam Consensus emphasizes development prioritization and proposes exploring development paths characterized by independence, mutual respect and learning, and people-centered approaches. Both China and Africa recognize that each country has its unique historical and cultural background, which should serve as the foundation for exploring modernization models tailored to their own civilizational characteristics and developmental needs. This flexible and pragmatic approach to development not only respects national sovereignty but also avoids the drawbacks of a "one-size-fits-all" development model.
It is particularly noteworthy that this Consensus especially advocates the "people-centered" development philosophy, explicitly stating the commitment to development for the people, development relying on the people and development achievements shared by the people. This concept aligns closely with China’s "people-centered" development philosophy and African countries' pursuit of inclusive growth. Both China and Africa recognize that people should not be reduced to mere abstract concepts in statistics and development indicators, nor should human rights issues be instrumentalized as excuses to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs. Instead, development should be leveraged to effectively safeguard people's rights to subsistence and development.
During the China-Africa Leaders’ Dialogue in August 2023, China announced three major initiatives: the Initiative on Supporting Africa's Industrialization, the Plan for China Supporting Africa’s Agricultural Modernization, and the Plan for China-Africa Cooperation on Talent Development, which emphasized strengthening knowledge sharing and technology transfer, cultivating high-quality human resources, with particular focus on capacity-building training for youth and women. Taking the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway as an example, China has contributed to training over 3,000 railway professionals, created more than 50,000 jobs in Ethiopia and Djibouti, and held "Turnkey" ceremony for the Project in May 2024.
Furthermore, this Consensus emphasized development approaches suitable for the Global South, explicitly calling for combining effective markets and proactive governments to stimulate endogenous development momentum. This development approach effectively addresses the needs and challenges faced by the Global South. Western liberal economics often posits an inherent tension between governments and markets, maintaining that governments should merely address market failures through public goods and services provision. This perspective, although having its own rational point, oversimplifies the relationship between "government" and "market." Both historically and in reality, the role of governments in promoting economic development extends far beyond correcting market failures.
As the Consensus indicates, building an efficient, clean and law-based government helps optimize macro-control and public services, invigorate market vitality and facilitate Africa's industrialization and agricultural modernization. Global South countries increasingly recognize that new financing models, such as public-private partnerships, integrated investment-construction-operation approaches, and coordinated loan-investment mechanisms, along with industrialization pathways like industrial policies, special economic zones and infrastructure connectivity particularly require support from proactive government.
In international development cooperation, China places particular emphasis on capacity building in African countries and other developing economies. By providing support in technology, financing, training and the like fields, China helps Global South countries better participate in international division of labor, occupy more favorable positions in global supply chains and achieve industrial upgrading and structural improvement. Currently, a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is in full swing. Creating a development model with positive interaction between governments and markets has injected a new momentum for emerging markets and developing countries to achieve leapfrog development.
In addition, this Consensus has proposed a reform plan for global development governance. Upholding the global governance concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, the China-Africa Dar es Salaam Consensus not only charts a course for global development governance but also provides actionable reform recommendations. As both a safeguard and objective for development, the Consensus emphasizes advancing equal and orderly world multipolarity and building universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, which helps reduce global wealth inequality and urges developed nations to fulfill their commitments in development aid and climate finance, enabling different countries, social strata and people of different groups to share the opportunities brought by economic globalization and promote the development of global governance in a more just and reasonable direction.
On specific measures, the Consensus recommends increasing capital for multilateral development banks such as the World Bank to enhance their capacity in providing financing tools for poverty reduction and development; also suggests boosting the equity and voting rights of emerging markets and developing countries within the International Monetary Fund (IMF), establishing a third executive director seat for African countries, and making Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocations adequately prioritize the needs of least-developed countries. Additionally, recognizing potential biases and unfair evaluations by traditional Western rating agencies, the Consensus proposed exploring the establishment of an impartial and objective international credit rating agency under frameworks such as FOCAC and BRICS. These measures enable developing countries to better participate in shaping global development governance and share benefits from global development.
Africa-China Dar es Salaam Consensus has not only contributed intellectual support to the development of the Global South, but also proposed solutions and approaches to the major issues and challenges currently facing the world. Moving forward, it is essential to emphasize the extension and dissemination of this Consensus, leveraging cooperation in developmental knowledge to drive collaborative development actions. This will encourage all countries to translate the principles of this Consensus into concrete policy action plans and project implementations, fostering high-quality and sustainable global economic development.