Africa CDC Headquarters to be Delivered Early Next Year

Addis Ababa, September 29, 2022 (Walta) – The Chinese-aided Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) headquarters will be delivered early next year said the Head of Chinese Mission to the African Union, Ambassador HU Changchun, while addressing an online audience participating in the celebration of the 73rd anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.

The ambassador who thanked African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, for sending congratulatory letter said that his country is marching a new journey to build ‘a great modern socialist country in all respect and towards the second centenary goal’ though he does not clarify what the second centenary goal is all about.

The ambassador also highlighted Chinese contribution to the global economic development.

“As the world’s second largest economy, the largest country of goods-trading and foreign exchange reserves, China has provided a strong impetus for the recovery of the world economy,” he said.

“In 2022, the major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics has been pushed forward comprehensively, injecting new impetus into world peace and prosperity,” he added.

According to Ambassador HU Changchun, China has provided more than 2 billion doses of Covid19 vaccines to over 200 countries and regions around the world.

China and Africa has become a model of global solidarity in fighting the pandemic.

China has assisted African countries to manufacture about 400 million doses of vaccine in localized cooperation. It has also been Africa’s largest trading partner for 13 years in a row now.

China signed the Belt and Road Initiative Cooperation Plan and established a coordination mechanism with the AU. It is actively supporting the building of the African Continental Free Trade Area, and promotes China-AU cooperation in infrastructure, energy, agriculture and other areas.

In early September, China and the AUC successfully co-organized the Talk with Taikonauts event, during which Chinese astronauts connected with African youth from outer space for the first time.

The Communist Party of China will soon hold its 20th National Congress, which will draw a grand blueprint for China’s development in the next stage of development and cooperation.

At the 2018 Beijing Summit and the 7th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China – Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Beijing, the Government of China expressed its commitment to support the building of the Africa CDC Headquarter.

The AUC and the Ministry of Commerce of the People`s Republic of China signed the implementation agreement on the Africa CDC headquarter building project in July 2020.

The project include an emergency operation center, a data center, a laboratory, a resource center, briefing rooms, a training center, a conference center, offices, and expatriate apartments, all to be constructed, furnished and equipped by the Government of China.

So far more than 80 percent of the construction work is complete.

Located in the African Village, south of the political capital of Africa, Addis Ababa, the head quarter site covers an area of 90,000m2 with a total construction area of nearly 40,000m2.

Africa CDC is tasked to coordinating disease prevention, surveillance and control in the continent in partnership with the national public health institutes and ministries of health of the member states