China's experience in carrying out economic reforms, which included market reforms designed to attract foreign investment, would be of immense benefit to African countries, most of whom were grappling with economic challenges, said Soumana Sako, a senior African official.

Sako, executive secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua here on Friday that African countries would also benefit from the experience that China has acquired in implementing policies that ensure control over its economic development.

"The combination has enabled China to emerge from a poor country to a big economic power," Sako said, "therefore the experience of China in being able to put in place economic reforms is very useful to Africa."

The former Malian prime minister and finance and commerce minister urged China to become a member of ACBF to add an important dimension to the South-South Cooperation.

He noted that China would become the second Asian country with the ACBF membership after India, and African countries would gain benefits from the experiences of the two countries.

The executive secretary continued that African countries were also benefiting from China's strong influence in international organizations such as the United Nations. China's ACBF membership would offer an opportunity to bring the African governments to the same table to discuss their economic priorities with their partners in the international community.

It would also provide an opportunity to mobilize more resources for the African governments to continue relying on African specialists to design homegrown economic policies and implement them, Sako said. "So we will be glad if China makes the decision to join the foundation," he said.

Noting that the Chinese government has sent observers to the foundation's several Board of Governors meetings, Sako urged Beijing to change from an observer to a full member of the foundation. He noted that he had discussed the issue with Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Zhang Xianyi, who has been supportive of the idea.

The Harare-based ACBF, established in 1991, has a total of 34 African and non-African member governments and organizations, with the African Development Bank, the United Nations Development Program and the World Bank being its major sponsors.

The ACBF aims to become the leading African institution in partnership with other stakeholders to build sustainable capacity for good governance and poverty reduction in Africa. It has extended its mandate to support participatory governance by bringing governments and the private sector together in support of transparent governance.

Source: Xinhua