China hands over emergency food assistance to Sierra Leone

The emergency food assistance provided by China was handed over to Sierra Leone at a ceremony held both online and onsite on March 9, 2023. Tang Wenhong, vice-chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), and Theresa Dick, deputy minister of the Agriculture and Food Security of Sierra Leone, attended and addressed the ceremony.

Tang noted that food security is a key agenda of state governance and a core concern of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. China proposed the Global Development Initiative in September 2021, which listed food security as one of the eight key areas of cooperation and offered China's solution for the global food crisis, he said. At the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, which was held in November of the same year, China pledged to work closely with African countries to implement nine programs in areas including poverty reduction and agricultural development. Tang said that China has been earnestly fulfilling its commitment in assisting African countries against the food crisis and building a China-Africa community with a shared future. So far, all emergency food assistance supplies to Africa, as announced by China, have been shipped out and arrived in batches in such countries as Guinea Bissau and Sierra Leone, he added.

"It is more important to show people how to fish than to just give them fish." Tang said that China's international development cooperation with Africa in agriculture was not only for short term benefits, such as the food assistance, but also for long term sustainable development, which includes building agricultural demonstration centers and carrying out technology cooperation and human resource training. He pledged that China will continue to assist Africa in building a modern agricultural industry system by assisting in infrastructure construction; promoting the planting of hybrid rice and Juncao that are adaptable in Africa; and strengthening talent training.

Dick conveyed the gratitude of Sierra Leone's President Bio for China's food assistance, and said that China and Sierra Leone enjoy a long history of friendship. The Chinese government has always given strong support to Sierra Leone when it is most in need and this food assistance is another milestone event in the history of the bilateral relations of the two countries. She said that apart from rice, China has also donated equipment for rice production and trained agricultural professionals for Sierra Leone, which is deeply appreciated by Sierra Leone. She pledged to distribute the food to those in need as soon as possible.