Xi Jinping promises Africa $50 billion in next three years

BEIJING – Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday pledged more than $50 billion in aid to Africa over the next three years, promising to deepen infrastructure and trade cooperation with the continent, during the biggest summit in Beijing since the pandemic.

More than 50 African leaders and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will attend this week’s China-Africa forum, state media reported.

African leaders have already struck a series of deals this week for broader cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, mining, trade and energy.

Addressing leaders at the opening ceremony of the forum at Beijing’s ornate Great Hall of the People on Thursday morning, Xi Jinping called relations with the mainland “the best period in history.”

“China is ready to deepen cooperation with African countries in the fields of industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade and investment,” he said.

“The Chinese government is ready to provide financial support of $50.7 billion over the next three years,” Xi said.

More than half of that amount will be earmarked for loans, he said, with $11 billion going to “various forms of assistance” and $10 billion going to encourage Chinese companies to invest.

He also promised to help “create at least one million jobs in Africa.”

Addressing the meeting, UN chief Guterres told African leaders that strengthening ties between China and the continent could “fuel a renewable energy revolution”.

“China’s impressive achievements in development, including poverty eradication, represent a wealth of experience and expertise,” he said.

Offers and commitments

China, the world’s second-largest economy, is Africa’s biggest trading partner and is seeking to exploit the continent’s vast natural resources, including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth elements.

It has also provided billions of dollars in loans to African countries to help build much-needed infrastructure, but has at times courted controversy by burdening governments with huge debts.

Analysts say Beijing’s largesse towards Africa is being reassessed in the face of economic problems at home, while geopolitical concerns over a growing dispute with the United States could increasingly influence policy.

But bilateral meetings held on the sidelines of the summit produced a series of promises of greater cooperation on projects ranging from railways to solar panels and avocados.

Following meetings on Wednesday, Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema said he had overseen a deal between state-owned power company ZESCO and Beijing-based 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 in which they agreed to “deepen cooperation” on infrastructure, including “transport, ports and free trade zones”.

Developing transport connections

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, in turn, won a commitment from Xi to take action to advance the long-stalled construction of a railway linking his country with neighboring Zambia.

The project – for which Beijing has pledged $1 billion, according to Zambian media – aims to expand transport links in the resource-rich eastern part of the continent.

According to a joint statement by the two countries, Zimbabwe also received promises from Beijing to deepen cooperation in “agriculture, mining, environmentally friendly traditional and new energy infrastructure, and transport.”

The joint statement said the Southern African country and Beijing also agreed to sign a deal that will allow Zimbabwe to export fresh avocados to China.

Kenyan leader William Ruto said Xi promised to open the Chinese market to his country’s agricultural products.

The two sides agreed to cooperate on the expansion of the Nord Gauge Railway, built with financial support from Exim Bank of China, which connects the capital Nairobi with the port city of Mombasa.

Ruto also secured a promise to strengthen cooperation with China on the Rironi-Mau Summit-Malaba highway, which according to Kenyan media is expected to cost $1.2 billion.

Ruto last year asked China for a $1 billion loan and a restructuring of existing debt to complete other stalled construction projects. The country now owes China more than $8 billion.