China has deepened cooperation with several African countries to promote urban renewal through sustainable waste management, improved service delivery alongside efforts to combat environmental pollution.

Officials told Xinhua in Nairobi on Thursday that symbiotic relationship between Africa and China is critical to help promote growth of sustainable, inclusive and safer cities.

"We have fostered cooperation between Chinese and African cities to promote sharing of experiences and best practices on how to manage traffic, solid and liquid waste as well as air pollution, " Vice President of Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries Xie Yuan told Xinhua in Nairobi.

Xie spoke at the Sino-African Initiative Conference in Nairobi to explore how the Asian giant can cooperate with African countries to strengthen delivery of critical services like water and sanitation alongside waste management and public health.

Xie revealed that more than 100 African cities have benefited from a sister cities initiative with China that has been active for the last three decades.

"This partnership has provided a crucial channel for exchange on issues that promote economic, cultural and technological progress in cities. China is a developing country that share a lot of similarities with African nations on aspects of urbanization," Xie said.

He reiterated that Sino-Africa cooperation on cities is mutual and will go the distance as both sides solidifies diplomatic relations.

He disclosed that every two years, China hosts sister city international conference where hundreds of mayors, government officials and entrepreneurs congregate to share experiences on promoting safer, richer and cleaner cities.

He noted that regular forums have enabled officials in both Chinese and African cities discuss their common challenges like pollution and traffic congestion.

African cities have gained from cooperation with their foreign counterparts in China and the West to help address challenges associated with waste, poor service delivery and unplanned settlements.

The Director of Environment at the Nairobi City Council, Leah Oyake, revealed that the Kenyan capital has partnered with foreign cities to implement initiatives related to waste management and crime control.

"Provision of critical services like water and sanitation alongside proper waste management has a direct bearing on growth of cities. There is need for cities to cooperate, share knowledge, technology and experiences on how to boost delivery of these services," said Oyake. A pilot project targeting cities in Africa, the United States and China will involve setting up of structures to address urban poverty, water and sanitation crises and bottlenecks in provision of primary healthcare.

The president and CEO of the Sister Cities International, a U.S. based nonprofit organization, Mary Kane, said that the new initiative target municipal authorities and non state actors to help solve common challenges affecting their cities.

"We will build on existing relationship to share knowledge and experiences on how to improve our cities. Africa can borrow lessons on urban development from China while the U.S. offers valuable lesson on good transit systems for cities," Kane said.

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