BEIJING, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 31 December 2024 – CGTN publishes an article on a special interactive page named “Chinese Modernization, People’s Well-being Matters Most,” which details China’s modernization drive and high-quality development in various areas in 2024 through visual effects and in-depth stories. The article summarized Chinese President Xi Jinping’s domestic tour in 2024, and highlighted his care for improving people’s well-being in various areas and promoting high-quality development, stressing that “the people’s well-being matters the most in Chinese modernization.”
As 2025 draws near, China’s consumption has shown signs of revitalization as various regions and departments have enhanced the supply in the country’s consumption market.
Official data showed that the country’s popularity index for offline consumption increased by five percent year on year, and the popularity index of services showed a year-on-year jump of 10.6 percent.
The boom in consumption highlights the improvement of people’s livelihoods. “As far as Chinese modernization is concerned, the people’s well-being matters the most,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said while inspecting Chongqing Municipality in April.
During Xi’s domestic tours in 2024, “people” was one of the most frequently mentioned keywords, according to an analysis by CGTN, joined in the top 10 by others such as “development,” “modernization,” “economy,” and “ecology,” underscoring the direction and key elements of China’s path to modernization.
“Chinese Modernization, People’s Well-being Matters Most,” a special interactive page launched by CGTN, details China’s modernization drive and high-quality development in various areas in 2024 through visual effects and in-depth stories.
People’s well-being matters most
Xi has often stressed that every issue that affects the people, big or small, deserves the utmost care and attention.
During his inspection tours around China this year, he visited ordinary people to learn about their lives, from their incomes and housing to healthcare, education, and elderly care services.
“The Communist Party of China (CPC) is dedicated to serving the people, and the well-being of the people of all ethnic groups and every household is my concern,” Xi said while visiting a multi-ethnic residential community in Yinchuan, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in June.
According to China’s Ministry of Finance, 70 percent of the government’s expenditure in 2024 has gone toward ensuring the people’s well-being.
The country has raised its expenditure in the national general public budget to about 28.55 trillion yuan ($3.91 trillion) this year, up 4 percent from the previous year, with projected budgets for education, social insurance and employment each surpassing 4 trillion yuan in 2024.
A bumper harvest
Grain security and rural revitalization have also been high on Xi’s agenda in 2024.
He has frequently visited the countryside during his inspection tours, engaging with workers in fields, greenhouses and orchards and asking in-depth questions about various aspects of rural and agricultural life, from crop production to incomes.
When visiting a village in Hunan Province in March, Xi inspected preparations for spring farming. He emphasized that, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, China must secure its own grain supply.
The latest National Bureau of Statistics of China data showed that in 2024 the country’s total grain output exceeded 706 million tonnes, an increase of 1.6 percent over the previous year, hitting a new record high.
This year’s bumper harvest was accompanied by a rise in grain planting areas in the country, which stood at over 119 million hectares, up 0.3 percent year on year. Additionally, grain output per unit area increased by 1.3 percent, the data showed.
In another positive development, China’s food security law, aimed at ensuring the supply of grain and related products, took effect in June.
Accelerating rural revitalization
Since China’s elimination of absolute poverty in 2021, the country’s focus on rural work has shifted to rural revitalization. Xi has stressed that to advance Chinese modernization, efforts must be made to accelerate rural revitalization.
China has identified 160 major counties for national rural revitalization assistance and allocated over 177 billion yuan in subsidies to support their development in 2024.
In the first three quarters of this year, the per capita disposable income of rural residents reached 16,740 yuan, a real-term annual increase of 6.3 percent.
Meanwhile, the central government allocated development funds of 7.4 billion yuan to improve production and living conditions in ethnic minority dominant villages and to protect and develop such villages.
The country has also launched monitoring and support mechanisms to prevent once-poor populations from falling back into poverty.
Work-relief programs to boost employment were also implemented this year. As of the end of October, the total scale of employment for poverty-stricken people in China had reached 33.079 million, exceeding the annual target by 2.888 million, providing strong support for consolidating and building on the achievements of poverty alleviation.
The “Invest in Namibia: Transforming Discoveries into Production” session will examine how Namibia can turn its offshore oil boom into a broader industrial opportunity through local suppliers, skills development, technology transfer and domestic investment
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, August 27, 2026/APO Group/ –After a series of major offshore discoveries transformed Namibia into one of the world’s most closely watched exploration frontiers, attention is shifting from proving resources to building the infrastructure, partnerships and industrial capabilities needed to bring them into production. At African Energy Week (AEW) 2026, the session “Invest in Namibia: Transforming Discoveries into Production.Orange Basin’s Path to First Oil” will examine how the country can capture value beyond the development of individual oil fields and use the emerging petroleum sector as a catalyst for wider economic growth.
TotalEnergies’ Venus discovery is technically ready to move toward a Final Investment Decision, with negotiations on fiscal terms still underway. The project’s development concept targets around 150,000 barrels per day at peak production, with first oil potentially around 2030. FEED has been completed and major contractors selected, bringing Namibia’s first potential deepwater oil development closer to execution.
The real measure of Namibia’s oil opportunity will not simply be how many barrels it produces, but how much economic value those barrels create at home
Meanwhile, the Orange Basin continues to attract major international players. TotalEnergies and Galp strengthened their positions across the Venus and Mopane discoveries in 2025, with TotalEnergies becoming operator of Mopane and Galp taking a participating interest in Venus. In August 2026, Equinor agreed to acquire a 17.4% stake in Chevron’s PEL 90, marking its first upstream entry into a new country since 2017. The block is expected to see another exploration well before the end of the year.
The scale of investment now being contemplated makes the question of local economic participation increasingly urgent. Namibia’s draft Local Content Policy identifies the development of national capabilities, employment, local procurement and stronger domestic value chains as central to ensuring that petroleum resources generate benefits beyond government revenues. The government has also highlighted technical training and partnerships with universities and industry as priorities for preparing Namibians for the emerging oil and gas sector.
For Namibia, this means moving beyond an export-led model in which capital, equipment and specialist expertise flow in and crude flows out. Developing local suppliers, financing Namibian businesses, building research and training hubs and creating opportunities for joint ventures could help establish capabilities that extend well beyond the life of individual oil projects. The opportunity spans engineering and fabrication, logistics, marine services, environmental management, digital technologies and other areas of the petroleum supply chain.
“The real measure of Namibia’s oil opportunity will not simply be how many barrels it produces, but how much economic value those barrels create at home,” said NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber. “Namibia has a chance to build a competitive African energy industry around its discoveries – one that creates jobs, develops local companies, transfers technology and gives Namibians a meaningful stake in the country’s energy future.”
The session will look beyond first oil itself to the ecosystem required to sustain production and translate upstream investment into long-term industrial development. With Venus, Mopane and further Orange Basin exploration moving toward development, Namibia has an opportunity to establish the commercial partnerships, financing structures and technical capabilities needed to ensure its petroleum boom becomes an economy-wide growth story.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.
Serving a population of more than 4.2 million people across Greater Casablanca, this project represents a significant step in the region’s transition towards a more sustainable and circular approach to waste management
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, August 28, 2026/APO Group/ –The consortium comprising Nareva, Kanadevia Inova and Itochu Corporation, through its 33.5-year concession agreement with the Municipality of Casablanca, has entrusted BUTEC (www.BUTEC.com) with a major Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for Casablanca’s landmark Waste-to-Energy (WtE) project, leveraging BUTEC’s multidisciplinary engineering and contracting capabilities for one of Morocco’s most significant waste management and energy recovery developments.
For the delivery of this landmark project, BUTEC has joined forces with the Switzerland-based Kanadevia Inova, a global leader in Waste-to-Energy and renewable gas solutions.
Located northwest of the Mediouna landfill in the Casablanca-Settat region of the Kingdom of Morocco, this ultra-large waste incineration facility will process approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-recyclable waste annually, significantly reducing reliance on landfill.
By diverting the waste from landfill and converting it into energy, this plant is expected to prevent up to 1.0 tonne of CO₂-equivalent emissions per tonne of waste while generating 126 MWe of baseload electricity.
BUTEC is establishing itself as the generalist EPC contractor of choice in this strategic sector
Serving a population of more than 4.2 million people across Greater Casablanca, this project represents a significant step in the region’s transition towards a more sustainable and circular approach to waste management, while supporting Morocco’s broader energy transition and long-term decarbonization ambitions.
BUTEC’s Scope of Work:
While Kanadevia Inova is responsible for the technology and the process part of the EPC works, as well as operations support, long-term maintenance, and financing of the facility, BUTEC will be responsible for civil works for the whole facility and for the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of Non-Process buildings, facilities, and associated works, including all civil, structural, architectural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) works, as well as the external infrastructure works required for the Project.
Commenting on the significance of the award, Raymond Daou (SVP Strategy & Business Development) stated:
“Building on our affiliates’ long-standing presence in Morocco, where BUTEC has established itself as one of the country’s leading players in Electromechanical Solutions, the Group is reinforcing, through this landmark contract, its contribution to the Kingdom’s sustainable development ambitions.
Furthermore, with three consecutive large-scale Waste-to-Energy projects across the geographies in which it operates, BUTEC is establishing itself as the generalist EPC contractor of choice in this strategic sector. This latest award confirms once again our ability to combine multidisciplinary engineering expertise, strong local execution capabilities and close cooperation with world-leading process technology partners to deliver complex energy and environmental facilities.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of BUTEC Group.
The opening ceremony, themed “The Asante Crown Meets the Diaspora,” convened more than 400 registered delegates, including senior government officials, C-suite executives, and US-based institutional investors
WASHINGTON D.C., United States of America, August 28, 2026/APO Group/ —
Asantehene presented a royal vision for Africa’s economic renaissance
Day 1 proceeded under the theme – The Vision Day: Unlocking Africa’s Century, A Diaspora Mandate”
Fireside chat with Boris Kodjoe on The Diaspora Return
The Africa Business Investment Summit 2026 opened this morning at the MGM National Harbor, in Washington D.C. Metro, with a royal keynote by the Summit’s Patron, His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, as the Millennium Excellence Week hosts its first event outside of Ghana.
The opening ceremony, themed “The Asante Crown Meets the Diaspora,” convened more than 400 registered delegates, including senior government officials, C-suite executives, and US-based institutional investors. They were drawn together under a single mandate: to facilitate $500 million in structured capital commitments between African deal originators and US institutional capital during the two-day summit.
Delivering his keynote address, His Majesty articulated a vision of African economic sovereignty where the diaspora serves as architects of continental development. Speaking with characteristic authority, His Majesty called on African governments, diaspora communities, and international institutional partners to align capital, policy frameworks, and political will behind a shared agenda for the continent’s economic future.
In his address, His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene said: “For too long, Africa has been described mainly in terms of its deficiencies.We have heard of the roads not built, the electricity not generated, the jobs not created, the capital not available, and the institutions not strong enough,”
For too long, Africa has been described mainly in terms of its deficiencies
Speaking further he noted that “Africa must no longer be regarded merely as a continent of future potential. Africa is already becoming a central part of the future global economy, and those who understand this early will position themselves advantageously.”
Honorable Sampson Ahi, Deputy Minister for Trade, Agribusiness, and Industry, who represented the President of the Republic of Ghana, detailed macroeconomic indicators signalling domestic economic recovery and industrial policy priorities: “ Our ambition is transformation. We want an economy that moves beyond exporting raw materials to manufacturing finished products, creating value, jobs, and shared prosperity. We want capital that drives productivity, entrepreneurship, and innovation. This is the philosophy behind the twenty-four-hour economy program, which is a commitment stimulating round-the-clock production, improving productivity, and developing a competitive and export-oriented economy.”
The first day of the summit concluded under the theme “The Vision Day: Unlocking Africa’s Century, A Diaspora Mandate”, exploring through a series of plenary sessions the most pressing deal themes in US–Africa investment today.
Programme spotlights included: The Diaspora Return, a fireside chat with Boris Kodjoe, Beyond Remittances: Building Africa’s Sixth Region, diaspora capital beyond transfers, The New Gold Rush: Africa’s Seat at America’s Critical Minerals Table, Ghana’s Gold Moment: From the Gold Coast to Global Market Power, The Diaspora Dollar: Fintech and the Next Remittance Corridor and Powering the Continent: Energy, Infrastructure and the US–Africa Partnership
The second and final day of the event will continue to explore investment opportunities across the continent through sector spotlights on the Creative Economy, Health & Pharma, Technology, and Digital Financial Services.
Following these plenaries, the event will conclude with bilateral investment meetings that will translate the vision outlined in the plenary hall into concrete investment decisions.
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