Dr. Essop Goolam Pahad, the former minister in the Presidency of Republic of South Africa, speaks at the BRICS Seminar on Governance in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, on Aug. 17, 2017. [Photo by Li Jia/China.org.cn]

"Poverty is a major factor affecting close to 400 million Africans." said Dr. Essop Goolam Pahad, the former minister in the Presidency of Republic of South Africa and the editor-in-chief of the monthly journal The Thinker, during a speech at the BRICS seminar on governance opening in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, on Aug. 17.

He said: "The global financial crisis, together with the cyclical downturn in commodity prices, brought into relief several causal factors that still retard Africa's growth and development and underscore its vulnerability." However, he was optimistic that "there are some fast-evolving alternative developments encouraging for Africa."

Dr. Pahad went on to point out that, "China is now Africa's largest trading partner on a country-to-country basis. In 2015, two-way trade approached US$300 billion (though down by US$77 billion compared to 2014 due to declining commodity demand). By 2011, about 2,000 Chinese companies had invested over US$21 billion in 50 African countries. By 2014, China's investment stock in Africa was over US$32 billion.

"After China and EU countries, India is Africa's third largest trading partner with total trade of US$82 billion in 2015 and FDI stock of US$65 billion. As the smallest BRICS economy, South Africa's total trade with the rest of Africa stood at US$45 billion in 2015 and its total investments were around US$21billion—relatively small compared to other BRICS economies but large in per capita terms.

"China's commitment through the FOCAC (Forum on China-Africa Cooperation) process in working with Africa to reduce poverty has become particularly important." Dr. Pahad said.

"We can draw from President Xi Jinping's authoritative book Up and Out of Poverty critical lessons for Africa. From his many years of facing the development and poverty challenges [at the grassroots level], President Xi demonstrates the power of transformational leadership in making a difference in the lives of poor Chinese people. This has served as a model for lifting more than 600 million Chinese citizens out of poverty over the last 30 years."

Dr. Pahad quoted President Xi's words in the book that, "Power is given to us by the people and we must follow the will of the people and work for the people", adding: "Developing clean government is a long-term project and requires patience and commitment.

"There is no quick fix to development and poverty since it is a gradual process requiring steady and systematic work. As President Xi has said, tackling poverty and development problems demands persistence and 'work with quiet dedication like water drops drilling through rock'."