The Executive Director of the Africa-China Centre for Policy & Advisory, Paul Frimpong, delivered a keynote speech at the just-ended thirteenth meeting of the China-Africa Think Tanks Forum held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on March 8, 2024.
He was among a group of selected Africa-China scholars, researchers, and academics from over 30 countries who presented various forward-looking keynote addresses.
The Africa-China Centre for Policy and Advisory is a Sino-African research and policy think tank and advisory firm headquartered in Accra, Ghana, with teams in China, Morocco, Ethiopia, Botswana, the DRC, Tunisia, Tanzania, and the UK.
The Centre is dedicated to providing unbiased policy and market research as well as distinct views on Africa-China relations.
The China-Africa Think Tank Forum is one of the important sub-forums of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Over the past 15 years, there have been 15 important international academic exchange events in China and African countries, including this 13th China-Africa Think Tank Forum and the first China-Africa Think-Tank and Media Symposium.
CATTF was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s economic and vibrant city, where over 150 scholars, researchers, and academics from China and Africa attended and delivered various speeches and interventions aimed at strengthening research and knowledge exchange between Africa and China.
ACCPA’s Executive Director, Paul Frimpong, delivered a speech on how to deliver effective African agency when it comes to relations with China. He challenged African scholars and researchers to lead the debate and conversations and help African governments shape the best policies with China to secure win-win cooperation.
IMAGE: Paul Frimpong, ACCPA’s Executive Director, speaking at the plenary session of CATTF 2024 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
According to Paul, “African scholars must initiate, lead, and drive the conversations when it comes to Africa-China relations.”.
“There are lots of misconceptions and misrepresentations about Sino-African relations. Partly because most of the conversations are engineered by actors outside of the continent.” He added.
He challenged all scholars and researchers to put their best foot forward to tell the African perspective when it comes to the continent’s relations with China.
IMAGE: Paul Frimpong, ACCPA’s Executive Director, delivering his speech during the plenary session of CATTF 2024
Written by: Mercy Tedeku, Research Associate, ACCPA