2019年11月10日，学校特聘教授、教育部刘鸿武邀请南非前大使格特先生（Grobler Gert Johannes）、前马里驻华大使馆第一参赞约罗博士（Diallo Yoro）、林晨博士来访云南师范大学西南对外开放与边疆安全研究中心，讨论“非洲地理与资源环境国别研究”系列丛书的编纂工作。学校周倩老师、王洋老师、朱寿清老师、刘燕老师、李玉华老师、胡洋老师和博士生拉希德参与此次研讨会。
On November 10, 2019, Liu Hongwu, professor of the Yangtze River Scholars of the Ministry of Education, former Ambassador of South Africa, Grobler Gert Johannes, and the former diplomatic officer of the Mali, Dr. Diallo Yoro, Dr. Lin Chen visited the Southwestern Open and Frontier Security Research Center of Yunnan Normal University to discuss the seminar of the series "African Geography and Resources on Country Studies". Yunnan Normal University lecturer’s Dr Zhou Qian, Dr Wang Yang, Dr Zhu Shouqing, Dr Liu Yan, Dr Li Yuhua, Dr Hu Yang and PhD candidate Olajide Rasheed participated in the seminar.
（刘鸿武教授为课题组成员安排具体工作）
Professor Liu Hongwu arranged specific work for the memebers of research group
刘鸿武教授在会上表示，非洲地理研究对非洲发展和中非合作都有重大意义。首先，非洲自然资源丰富、发展潜力巨大，但缺少相应的开发技术和管理经验。例如南苏丹一国就拥有3.7亿亩可耕地，而且大部分土地是肥沃的黑土地。但尽管有这样优越的自然条件，但该国1100万人中，仍有600万人仍然无法获得充足的粮食供给。中国作为负责的世界性大国，有责任通过中非合作推动非洲国家发展。以国别为基础开展非洲地理与资源环境研究，首先能够帮助我们进一步认识非洲的基本情况，其次丛书出版后，也能够为中非职业教育合作提供信息参考。
Professor Liu Hongwu said at the meeting that African geography research is of great significance to African development and China-Africa cooperation. First of all, Africa has abundant natural resources and great development potential, but lacks corresponding development technology and management experience. For example, in South Sudan, there are 370 million square of arable land, and most of the land is fertile black land. But despite such superior natural conditions, 6 million of the country's 11 million population still do not have access to adequate food supplies. As a responsible world power, China has the responsibility to promote the development of African countries through China-Africa cooperation. Conducting African geography and resource environment research on a country-by-country basis can help us to further understand the basic situation in Africa. Secondly, after the publication of the series, it can also provide information for the cooperation between China and Africa.
格特大使表示，中非合作对非洲国家十分重要，这既包括政治经济合作，也包含人文交流与民心沟通。格特大使以马达加斯加为例，该国有大量的珍惜动植物资源，但由于缺少资金和发展经验，该国的资源优势一直难以转化为经济发展优势。中国在促进经济发展方面拥有很多宝贵经验，而这正是像马达加斯加这样的非洲国家所需要的。
Ambassador Gert said that China-Africa cooperation is very important for African countries, including political and economic cooperation as well as humanities exchanges and communication among the people. Ambassador Gert, for example, in Madagascar, where the country has a large amount of cherished resources for animals and plants, but due to lack of funds and development experience, the country’s resource advantages have been difficult to translate into economic development advantages. China has a lot of valuable experience in promoting economic development, which is what African countries like Madagascar need.
（格特大使发言）
Ambassador Gert giving a speech
约罗博士也在会议上发言。他引用毛主席的原话说：“非洲一定会是中国的好朋友”。刘鸿武教授常说要构建中国的非洲学，那么我们首先要热爱非洲、学习非洲、住在非洲，用自己的亲身经历去感受非洲。编纂“非洲地理与资源环境国别系列研究”丛书，不能完全依赖以别人的资料与观点，需要从自己的角度出发，探讨非洲资源环境与社会发展的关系。也只有基于中非合作的实际需要，从中国的本身的角度去观察和认识非洲的地理与资源环境，才能摆脱“西方中心论”窠臼。最后，约罗博士表示“三人行必有我师”，非洲也需要借鉴中国的发展经验，促进非洲国家发展，将中非合作打造为国际合作的典范。
Dr. Yoro also spoke at the meeting. He quoted Chairman Mao's once said: "Africa will definitely be a good friend of China." Professor Liu Hongwu often said that to build China's African studies, then we must first love Africa, study Africa, live in Africa, and experience Africa with our own personal feeling. The series "A series of studies on African geography and resources and environment" can not be completely dependent on other people's data and opinions. It is necessary to explore the relationship between resource environment and social development in Africa from its own perspective. Only by observing and understanding Africa's geography and resources and environment from the perspective of China's own perspective can we get rid of the "Western Centralism". Finally, Dr. Yoro said that “There must be one out of three who can be your teacher”, and Africa needs to learn from China’s development experience, promote the development of African countries, and build China-Africa cooperation as a model for international cooperation.
（约罗博士发言）
Dr. Yoro giving a speech
最后，刘鸿武教授、格特大使、约罗博士都表示“非洲地理与资源环境国别研究”系列丛书具有很强的理论意义和现实功效，愿意为图书的编纂工作提供长期支持和帮助。
Finally, Professor Liu Hongwu, Ambassador Gert and Dr. Yoro all said that the series of "African Geography and Resources on Country Studies" series has strong theoretical and practical effects and is willing to provide long-term support and assistance for the compilation of books.