African leaders applaud Chinese President Xi Jinping, center, after his speech at the opening ceremony of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Thursday, September 5, 2024. | Photo Credit: AP
Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday (September 5, 2024) pledged more than $50 billion in funding for Africa over the next three years, vowing to increase cooperation in infrastructure and trade with the continent as he addressed the biggest summit in Beijing since the pandemic.
More than 50 African leaders and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attended the China-Africa forum this week, according to state media.
African leaders have made numerous offers this week for greater cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, mining, trade and energy.
Addressing leaders at the forum’s opening ceremony in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Thursday, Mr Xi described relations with the continent as being in “the best period in history”.
“China is ready to increase cooperation with African countries in industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade and investment,” he said.
“Over the next three years, the Chinese government is willing to provide financial support in the amount of 360 billion yuan ($50.7 billion),” Xi said.
Over half of that will be credit, he said, with $11 billion “in various types of assistance” as well as $10 billion through encouraging Chinese companies to invest.
He also promised to help “create at least one million jobs for Africa”.
Chinese leaders are giving $141 million in military aid to the continent as well.
Beijing will “provide training for 6,000 military personnel and 1,000 police and law enforcement officers from Africa”, Mr Xi said.
Also addressing the meeting, UN chief Guterres told African leaders that growing ties between China and the continent could “drive a renewable energy revolution”.
“China’s remarkable development record – including in poverty eradication – provides a wealth of experience and expertise,” he said.
Deals and promises
China, the world’s second-largest economy, is Africa’s largest trading partner and has sought to exploit the continent’s abundant natural resources including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals.
It has also provided African countries with billions in loans that have helped build much-needed infrastructure but have sometimes caused controversy by crippling governments with huge debts.
Analysts say that the great Beijing to Africa is being recalibrated in the face of economic obstacles ahead and that geopolitical concerns through many tumssle with the United States can increasingly drive privacy.
But bilateral meetings held on the sidelines of the summit held promise for greater cooperation on projects from railways to solar panels to avocados.
After meetings on Wednesday, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema said he had overseen a deal between state power company ZESCO and Beijing’s PowerChina to expand the use of rooftop solar panels in his country.
Nigeria – one of Beijing’s biggest debtors on the continent – and China signed a joint statement agreeing to “forge cooperation” in infrastructure, including “transportation, ports and free trade zones”.
Develop transport links
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, in his turn, got a commitment from Mr. Xi to push for new progress on the long-stalled railway connecting the country to neighboring Zambia.
The project – for which Zambian media say Beijing has pledged $1 billion – is aimed at developing transport links in the resource-rich east of the continent.
Zimbabwe also won a pledge from Beijing for deeper cooperation in “agriculture, mining, traditional and new energy (and) environmentally friendly transport infrastructure”, according to a joint statement from the two countries.
The southern African country and Beijing also agreed to sign a deal that will allow exports of fresh Zimbabwean avocados to China, the joint statement said.
And Kenyan leader William Ruto said Mr Xi had promised to open the Chinese market to agricultural products from his country.
Both sides agreed to work together on the expansion of the country’s Standard Gauge Railway – built with finance from Exim Bank China – which connects the capital Nairobi with the port city of Mombasa.
And Mr Ruto also secured a promise for greater cooperation with China on the Rironi-Mau Summit-Malaba toll road, which Kenyan media say will cost $1.2 billion.
Mr Ruto last year asked China to borrow $1 billion and restructure existing debt to complete other stalled construction projects. The country now owes China more than $8 billion.
Published – 05 September 2024 21:19 IST
