看不见的客人
China-Africa Salon: A stadium in 2 years, a bond of 42 -- Chinese builders share their Kenya story_我的网站
A | Islamabad, Oct 21 (UNI) The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Friday removed Pakistan from a list of countries under “increased monitoring”, also known as the “grey list”.
Addressing the press conference at the conclusion of the its plenary, President Raja Kumar noted that Pakistan had been on the grey list since 2018.
“It has two concurrent action plans. After a lot of work by Pakistan authorities, they have largely addressed all of the action plan items,” he said.
He stated that the task force had conducted an onsite visit at the end of August. The onsite team verified that there is a high-level of commitment from the Pakistani leadership, sustainability of reforms and commitment to make improvements in the future, he said.
“As a result of these action plans, Pakistan has made significant improvements to strengthen the effectiveness of this framework for combatting terrorism financing.”
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was quick to congratulate the country on the development moments before the FATF press conference began, according to Dawn reports.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan’s exiting the FATF grey list is a “vindication of our determined and sustained efforts over the years”, according to reports.
He congratulated the civil and military leadership as well as all institutions whose hard work led to today’s success. “Aap sab ko bohat bohat Mubarak,” the premier said, following up with a text smiley.
In a follow-up tweet, PM Shehbaz particularly commended the role and efforts of Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and their teams and all political parties for putting up a united front to get Pakistan out of the grey list.
Pakistan was included among jurisdictions under increased monitoring list in June 2018 for deficiencies in its legal, financial, regulatory, investigations, prosecution, judicial and non-government sector to fight money laundering and combat terror financing considered serious threat to global financial system.
Islamabad made high-level political commitments to address these deficiencies under a 27-point action plan. But later the number of action points was enhanced to 34.
The country had since been vigorously working with FATF and its affiliates to strengthen its legal and financial systems against money laundering and terror financing to meet international standards in line with 40-recommendations of the FATF.
A 15-member joint delegation of the FATF and its Sydney-based regional affiliate — Asia Pacific Group — paid an onsite visit to Pakistan from Aug 29 to Sept 2 to verify the country’s compliance with the 34-point action plan committed with the FATF.
The authorities that had kept the countrywide visit of the delegation low profile later termed it “a smooth and successful visit”.
The delegation had detailed discussions with relevant agencies pursuant to the authorisation of onsite Visit by FATF Plenary in June 2022.
According to the Foreign Office, the focus of the visit was to validate on ground Pakistan’s high-level commitment and sustainability of reforms in AML/CFT regime and [it] looked forward to logical conclusion to the evaluation process.
Pakistan believed that as a result of strenuous and consistent efforts over the past four years, it has not only achieved a high degree of technical compliance with FATF standards but also ensured high level of effectiveness through implementation of two comprehensive FATF action plans.
In June this year, FATF had found Pakistan “compliant or largely compliant” on all the 34 points and had decided to field an onsite mission to verify it on ground before formally announcing the country’s exit from the grey list that finally took place in August and September.
In terms of technical compliance with FATF standards, Pakistan has been rated by APG as “compliant or largely compliant” in 38 out of 40 FATF recommendations in August this year, which placed the country among the top compliant countries in the world.
UNI GNK。
B |
An aerial drone photo taken on March 19, 2025 shows the construction site of the Chinese-built Talanta Sports City in Nairobi, Kenya. (Xinhua/Han Xu)In Nairobi, a 60,000-seat football stadium is entering the final stage of construction. Built in just two years, the Talanta Stadium will serve as the main venue of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
"The schedule was extremely tight -- just two years, while comparable projects elsewhere usually take more than three," Du Xiao, project manager of the stadium for China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), told Xinhua in a recent interview. "There is a very real sense of pride."
According to Du, the stadium has no running track, bringing spectators close to the pitch. Its seats take on the green, red and black of Kenya's national flag, while the facade features the traditional shield and spear of the Maasai people.
Upon completion, the stadium is set to be renamed the Raila Odinga International Stadium, in honor of Kenya's late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
The roof adopts a cable-supported grid system erected with a "cable-first, steel-after" method, which Du said is the first of its kind independently designed and built by China. Without temporary steel supports, 48 radial cables are tensioned to lift six ring cables before steel trusses are laid on top, saving at least three months of construction time, with displacement controlled to the millimeter. In 2025 alone, some 1,300 containers of materials and equipment were shipped from China to the site.
For CRBC, the stadium is only the latest chapter of a much longer story. The company built its first road in Kenya in 1984, and over 42 years, its footprint has extended from roads to bridges, ports, railways and buildings.
Du Shan, the executive general manager of CRBC Kenya office, recalled that before 2008, Nairobi was cut apart by three rivers and a cross-district trip could take more than three hours. After CRBC completed the ring roads, the journey now takes about 50 minutes. The company is also expanding the A8, a national trunk road, from two lanes to four and six, she said.
On the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway, wildlife corridors were built with a clearance of more than six meters, "so that giraffes can pass with their heads held high," Du Shan said.
Workers are engaged at the construction site of the Chinese-built Talanta Sports City in Nairobi, Kenya, on March 18, 2025. (Xinhua/Han Xu)Du Xiao arrived in Kenya in August 2011 and has worked on the ring roads, the Mombasa-Nairobi railway, the Nairobi-Malaba railway and the Nairobi Expressway before taking on the stadium project.
"Working overseas, we should not arrive thinking about changing the place. We should first adapt to and learn from the local community," he said. "What many projects truly open up is not just roads and railways, but trust between people."
The stadium sits near Kibera, Kenya's largest informal settlement. Du Xiao remembers a local young man named Sammy, who had no skills when he applied for a job but volunteered for the project's equipment training and became a pump truck operator. "I asked him why he worked so hard. He said, 'I never thought I would have the chance to touch these machines. Now I feel I can support my whole family.'"
According to Du Shan, the project recruited nearly 500 young workers from the neighborhood during construction, many of whom have qualified as assistant engineers, while about 280 local youths were mentored into technical backbones during the construction of the Mombasa-Nairobi railway.
More than 350 CRBC employees have worked overseas for over a decade, and each year the company awards them a gold medal for long-term dedication, she said. "The medal is not only an honor, but also a kind of warmth. Because 42 years -- it has truly not been easy."
When his child was born, Du Xiao was at a critical stage of the Nairobi Expressway project and could not make it home. "People in overseas engineering live in two worlds -- the project site on one side, the family on the other. All you can do is try to do a little better on each side," he said.
"Maybe I will one day leave this country. But this stadium will remain," he said. "I came here to build projects. Then I found that this country has shaped who I am today."
。
Current article:http://v0it.liaoenxingunchuanglou.buzz/cgvb2zd/20260826/289156.html
Published on:21:08:13
