Cooperation helping Africa to build a new future

Even decades after throwing off the shackles of colonialism and gaining independence, African countries have not been able to beat the cycle of poverty. World Bank reports say 23 of the 28 poorest countries in the world are in Africa. And the number of Africans who earn less than $1.9 dollars a day, the World Bank's international poverty line, is about 400 million, or about 30 percent of the total population of the African continent.

Amid all these bleak facts, China-Africa cooperation comes as a ray of hope.

China helped establish the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2000. Since then China has been announcing every three years the funding for vital projects in African countries, which started with $1 billion and increased to $60 billion in 2018.