University of Nairobi Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, department of Diplomacy and International Studies in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy hosted the Chinese delegation led by Dr. Jin Xin -Secretary-General China Council for BRIC’s (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and United Arab Emirates) Think Tank cooperation and Director General of the Research Office of IDCPC (International Department of the Chinese Communist Party) for the China-Africa Relations and the South-South cooperation Seminar. The seminar themed “SINO-Africa Relations and South-South Dialogue” revolved around discussions on technology transfer, research and innovation, and economic acceleration.

The discussions were also characterized by thematic questions on how to utilize China’s position in the advancement of its South-South cooperation on the continent and the increasing role of the global South cooperation as well as ways through which Africa can influence the reforms on global governance. Dr. Martin Nguru, DdiS-UoN, noted that China’s technology transfer is key in raising Africa to the global stage. “For instance, Kenya a vital Chinese development partner wants to build its own SGR and expressways using its resources and people, hence could leverage on China’s technology transfer for her economic acceleration” he added.

On the advancement of China’s South-South cooperation, Dr. Ochieng Kaduvai of Strathmore University echoed the need to balance power as far as South-South relations are concerned especially from the “Big Powers”.  “A society is only as strong as its weakest link”, he noted.

However, this ‘Big Power’ support should give Africa its own space in global governance and autonomy cautioned Dr.Rebecca Sangura (Ddis).

Technology as a path to power was highly stressed by Dr. Martin Ouma (Ddis) as he discussed how to improve Global South Think Tank, a mechanism that is open to think tanks and scholars from developing countries, showcasing the need for collaboration and knowledge sharing especially in the fields of research and technology transfer on shared common spaces such as climate crisis and economic acceleration. The need to teach Kiswahili in Chinese schools was also brought forward as the Chinese language was taught in Kenyan schools for mutual exchange.

 Dr.Jin Xin in response to China’s perspective on global governance pointed towards multipolarism and shared prosperity for all. He leveraged BRICS as a force for good for developing countries and how China was the first member to support Africa as a member of the G20 summit. He emphasized that thriving relations between China- and Africa especially Kenya would lead to new models of cooperation whose by-products would include industrialization, knowledge transfer, BRICS membership, and debt concessions.