BEIJING: A Chinese envoy on Tuesday asked countries in Africa’s Great Lakes Region to use the rare window of opportunity to promote peace and development.
The situation in the Great Lakes Region including Kenya has stabilized and improved in recent years, presenting a rare window of opportunity for peace and development, said Dai Bing, China’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.
The past six months saw a reinforcement of such positive momentum. The general elections in Burundi were held smoothly; the reform of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is progressing steadily; and relations between regional states are gradually improving, along with greater willingness to resolve disputes through peaceful means, Dai told the Security Council.
China calls on countries in the region to build consensus, strengthen cooperation and turn challenges into opportunity with a view to achieving regional peace, stability, and common development at an early date, he said. Countries in the region share a common destiny. The security risks of any one country may spill over to its neighbors, and the crisis of one country may become a regional challenge. COVID-19 and Ebola have highlighted the urgency of regional cooperation, he said.
As a good friend and partner of countries in the Great Lakes Region, China has always unswervingly supported them in advancing the peace process, actively participated in the UN peacekeeping operations in the region, and done everything in its power to help regional states in strengthening capacity building.
China is ready to work with the international community and continue to make unremitting efforts toward peace, stability, prosperity, and development in the Great Lakes Region, he said.
-The Daily Mail-CGTN
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