The second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing from April 25 to 27, will be China’s most important diplomatic event of the year hosted on home soil. Over the last six years, 123 countries and 29 international groups have signed cooperation documents on jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). But what has the BRI brought to other countries? China Focus has launched a series of in-depth dialogue column “BRI Ambassador Interview” jointly with DRTT Group and China Development Observation, to show you the most real thoughts of the ambassadors of Belt and Road countries and leaders of some international organizations and representatives in China. Today we have an exclusive interview with HE Mr. Edward Boateng, Ambassador of the Republic of Ghana to China.

“Today, China is not only a political leader, but an economic, technological and thought leader on world issues. The growth of Chinese human capital, companies and institutions of all kinds over the last 20 years is baffling not only for an African like myself, but even for people from developed economies.”

I was surprised by Mr. Boateng’s insights on the political and social development in China, such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Reform and Opening-up policy, and his deep knowledge of world issues.

The country motto he wants to share is “Ghana Beyond Aid.” Ghana should hold its fate in its own hands.

BRI’s Shared Vision for Humankind Is Appealing

Sun Chao: How have you felt about Chinese people and life in China during your past 18-month stay? Are there any special or interesting thoughts you would like to share?

Edward Boateng: First of all, I’m very impressed with the leadership of President Xi and the leadership of the government. I’m impressed with the sagaciousness of lifting poor people out of poverty. Governance is about people and if you can get the people side right, then economic development can happen naturally. I think that’s something we can learn from China in terms of people development.

The people focus approach is one of the things I have picked up, in addition to the strong leadership that is exhibited by President Xi.

The Belt and Road Initiative must also be commended. We are living in difficult times. If you follow what is happening in other parts of the world, you might realize that a lot of nationalistic activities are taking place in so many countries. However, China has a leader who is opening up and calling on the rest of the world to do the same. This idea of a shared vision for humankind appeals to me.

I was very impressed with the organization of the recent Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) conference, which so many African leaders attended. The eight initiatives put forward by President Xi will help us in Africa. Right now, China is playing an important role in the new global order.

BRI Is Creating a Totally New Platform for China to Dialogue with the World

Sun Chao: As you mentioned, during the past 40 years, over a million Chinese people were lifted out of poverty. Your country too tries very hard to help people to have a better life. So, I would like to know about your opinion on China’s reforms.

Edward Boateng:  Reform and opening up is undoubtedly good for China and the world at large. Today, China is chalking records in all spheres: politics, culture, technology and people development. Without opening up, I don’t think China would be what it is today, so this policy has indeed brought globalization to China.

Today, the Belt and Road Initiative is creating a totally new platform for China to dialogue with the world.

Change is always difficult. It needs bold leaders to achieve it. I think that’s what China has been lucky with. In every generation, a new leadership comes and takes the country to another positive level.

Today, China is not only a political leader, but also an economic, technological and thought leader on world issues. The growth of Chinese human resource, companies and institutions of all kinds over the last 20 years is baffling not only for an African like myself, but even for people from developed economies because China has done in 40 years what other developed countries have done over a hundred years. It is a monumental achievement unparalleled in world history.

Sun Chao: Would you like to share with us your ideas on the future fields of China-Ghana cooperation?

Edward Boateng: The first field of China-Ghana cooperation that I want to focus on is people development. If you develop people, you can achieve what you want more easily. We want to focus especially on people development in the areas of engineering, and technical and vocational competencies. Basically, training people for manual skilled jobs.

The second area that we need to focus on is infrastructure. Railway development is one of the areas we can learn from China.

Another field is road expansion and water navigation. We need to develop wider roads and in a greater number, so that people and goods can move freely and cheaply. Ghana has a lot of water bodies but internal water navigation is not developed. Every province I visited in China utilizes water transport from one point to another. We must use our water bodies as alternative means for transporting people and goods. The last aspect is agriculture. Food should not be expensive in Ghana since we have plenty of land and good weather conditions. My understanding is that about only 15 to 20 percent of China’s land is arable for agriculture, all the same China produces enough food to feed its 1.3 billion people. So we should be able to do much better.

These are the four areas which are important to me. People development, engineering and technical education, infrastructure, including rail, road and water transport, and agriculture.

“Ghana to China Market”

Sun Chao: How could China and Ghana deepen investment and trade cooperation, creating a new relationship of mutual benefit and common progress?

Edward Boateng: The reason why I found China-Ghana investment and trade cooperation very important was that it gave us an opportunity for the “Ghana to China market”. Currently, we have a one-way traffic flow. Most of the goods are going from China to Ghana. I think in 2018, there is a projection of $8 to $10 billion in terms of imports from China and only $1 billion exports from Ghana to China. The first China International Import Expo in Shanghai presents us with a platform to help increase our exports.

Our competitive advantage is agriculture and therefore we should export as much food as we can to China, including our cocoa and shea butter as it is the best in the world. When people talk about cocoa, they only think about chocolate. Cocoa is a healthy product and the emerging Chinese middle class would enjoy cocoa products. We would therefore like to cooperate with Chinese partners to even open cocoa processing plants here in China. We would produce cocoa, semi-process it, bring it to China, and then sell the various products on the Chinese market. So that is one of the initiatives we are looking at. I think it is very important for us, in terms of being able to sell our agro-products on this market.

In terms of gold, Ghana has been one of the top gold mining countries in the world for a very long time, but we don’t have a gold refinery. We are looking at interested Chinese entrepreneurs to set up gold refineries to ensure that gold is processed in Ghana before export. These and many other initiatives are why we held the investment forum in Shandong and Changsha, to explain to people the new Ghanaian economy and our desire to attract the right investors. It is estimated that about 80 to 90 million jobs will move out of China in the coming years because of the ageing and the rising cost of labor. We have a younger and cheaper labor force in Ghana and therefore some of these factories can relocate to Ghana for production and exportation to China and other parts of the world.

“Ghana Beyond Aid”

Sun Chao: By the end of 2017, the number of young students from Ghana in China had exceeded 1000, so how do you evaluate the influence of cooperation between two counties in terms of talent training?

Edward Boateng: The majority of African students in universities and technical institutions in China come from Ghana, we are talking about 6700 students. This year, we also brought two groups of children between the ages of 10 and 15 to China.

Children in that age bracket can easily learn new things, that’s why we brought them to China early so they can make friends and learn. We also want to do the opposite and invite Chinese children to Ghana. If children are given opportunities to explore at an early age, they grow up with a more balanced view of the world.

We also had about 15 children, some from the poorest backgrounds in Ghana, visiting China and interacting with their peers for almost two weeks in Qingdao. They played soccer, practiced calligraphy and engaged in a lot of activities with other Chinese children. It was the first time for some of these kids to travel outside Ghana, but I was amazed at how well they performed in some competitions with children from very privileged background in Qingdao. This supports my assertion that if these kids are exposed and supported throughout their development, they can do very well in life.

We aim to take these kids from China and Ghana, group them together in the hope they will become friends and learn from each other. And who knows, maybe the next President of Ghana or China will be among these kids.

People to people exchange is very important for us and for China too. A lot of Chinese citizens travelled to America and Europe to learn and develop skills in technology, culture and other areas. These people returned to China and helped to develop the country. American universities are popular among Chinese and I believe most of those who study out of China will certainly return home to contribute to the development of their country. That is what we are seeking to do in ensuring that Ghanaians travel for studies, skills development etc. and return with best practices and systems.

Sun Chao: I feel very touched by the way you talk about the potential in people. What is your favorite motto in your country?

Edward Boateng: I think right now my favorite one is, “Ghana beyond aid”. In my culture, if you are a man and you want to be respected, you need to be able to take care of your children, your wife, your home and yourself. If you are unable to take care of your family’s necessities, earning respect from people will be difficult. We need to be able to take care of ourselves and our affairs.

The president’s whole vision is that we should be a country beyond aid. It doesn’t seem right to prepare a budget and wait for the U.S. or China to help finance it. Of course, aid helps and provides a buffer. China has benefitted from aid too in the past, but today China’s budget is completely self-financed. Aid in itself is not necessarily all negative, but there must be an end, there must be a point where we become self-sufficient. We need to own our fate and future.

The author is the editorial board member of China Development Observation, Vice President of DRTT Group, and author of New Order: Ambassadors’ Views on the Belt and Road Initiative.