By Ibrahim Joenal Sesay
FREETOWN, Feb. 25 (232news.com) – The Africa-China Leaders Association (ACLA) held its first live online event under the theme “Kutana Africa- China” Building a legacy through people-to-people engagements, to celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Tiger.
Hosted in Beijing at the offices of CZK Industrial Group, the event was held online and offline , and featured opening remarks and keynote speeches encouraging the youth to play a bigger role in people-to-people exchanges from special guests including H.E Wu Peng, Director General of the African Division of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, H.E Hu Zhangliang, China’s Ambassador to Sierra Leone, H.E Sarah Serem, Kenya’s Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China and former South African Ambassador to several Asian countries, H.E Gert Grobler.
The event presented a wide range of cultural performances from both Africa and China, including songs from Chinese opera star Zhang Xuemi, singer Hu Junmin from Jackie Chan’s stable, Xinjiang’s Alimu and Nigeria’s Hao Di. Dance performances were provided by Afro Jive and acrobatic troupes from Anhui and Sierra Leone, while Taichi was presented by Chinese Master Liu Suibin. Other performances included poetry recitals from Gift Mona and Tungamirai Eric Mupona and Face-changing from Mariatu Kargbo.
In addition, 11 speakers, from different fields including and not limited to e-commerce, health, agriculture, education, culture and entrepreneurship, who expressed their views on Africa-China friendship and a Q&A session was held in which 12 guests from different countries shared their thoughts about the past, present and future of Sino-African relations.
Speaking about the event, ACLA Founder Mariatu Kargbo from Sierra Leone said, “It is an honour for ACLA to bring together so many respected leaders, performers, entrepreneurs and academics to share their contributions and support the promotion of Africa – China relations. The feedback has been very positive and thanks to the success, we intend to make it an annual event.”
ACLA President Joseph Olivier Mendo’o from Cameroon shared his gratitude, noting “special thanks to the Chinese government, especially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), the Ambassadors, all the participants, the host of the event and all ACL members for their support. Together we can make Africa great, together we can build the Africa we want”, he added.
ACLA is a platform founded and run by the youth representatives who believe in a common goal, shared future and who are determined to deepen the people-people bonds between Africa and China through bilateral initiatives and activities in various fields.
It is more of a vibrant community that captures energy and support from like-minded Africa China youths who are keen to make substantial contributions to the sustainable development of mutual friendship engagements between both parties.
