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Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday pledged over $50 billion in financing for Africa over the next three years, promising to deepen cooperation in infrastructure and trade with the continent as he addressed Beijing\u2019s biggest summit since the pandemic.<\/p>\n
More than 50 African leaders and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres are attending this week\u2019s China Africa forum, according to state media.<\/p>\n
African leaders already secured this week a plethora of deals for greater cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, mining, trade and energy.<\/p>\n
Addressing the leaders at the forum\u2019s opening ceremony in Beijing\u2019s ornate Great Hall of the People on Thursday morning, Xi hailed ties with the continent as in their \u201cbest period in history\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina is ready to deepen cooperation with African countries in industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade and investment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the next three years, the Chinese government is willing to provide financial support amounting to 360 billion yuan ($50.7 billion),\u201d Xi said.<\/p>\n
Over half of that will be in credit, he said, with $11 billion \u201cin various types of assistance\u201d as well as $10 billion through encouraging Chinese firms to invest.<\/p>\n
He also promised to help \u201ccreate at least one million jobs for Africa\u201d.<\/p>\n
China, the world\u2019s number two economy, is Africa\u2019s largest trading partner and has sought to tap the continent\u2019s vast troves of natural resources including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals.<\/p>\n
It has also furnished African countries with billions in loans that have helped build much-needed infrastructure but sometimes stoked controversy by saddling governments with huge debts.<\/p>\n
Analysts say that Beijing\u2019s largesse towards Africa is being recalibrated in the face of economic trouble at home and that geopolitical concerns over a growing tussle with the United States may increasingly be driving policy.<\/p>\n
But bilateral meetings held on the sidelines of the summit delivered a slew of pledges on greater cooperation in projects from railway to solar panels to avocados.<\/p>\n
Following meetings on Wednesday, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema said he had overseen a deal between the country\u2019s state-owned power company ZESCO and Beijing\u2019s PowerChina to expand the use of rooftop solar panels in his country.<\/p>\n
Nigeria\u2014one of Beijing\u2019s biggest debtors on the continent\u2014and China inked a joint statement agreeing to \u201cdeepen cooperation\u201d in infrastructure, including \u201ctransportation, ports and free trade zones\u201d.<\/p>\n
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, in turn, obtained a commitment from Xi to push for new progress on a long-stalled railway connecting his country to neighbouring Zambia.<\/p>\n
That project\u2014which Zambian media has said Beijing has pledged $1 billion towards\u2014is aimed at expanding transport links in the resource-rich eastern part of the continent.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe also won promises from Beijing on deeper cooperation in \u201cagriculture, mining, environmentally friendly traditional and new energy (and) transportation infrastructure\u201d, according to a joint statement by the two countries.<\/p>\n
The southern African nation and Beijing also agreed to sign a deal that would allow the export of fresh Zimbabwean avocados to China, the joint statement said.<\/p>\n
And Kenyan leader William Ruto said Xi had promised to open up China\u2019s markets to agricultural products from his country.<\/p>\n
The two sides agreed to work together on the expansion of the country\u2019s Standard Gauge Railway\u2014built with finance from Exim Bank of China\u2014which connects the capital Nairobi with the port city of Mombasa.<\/p>\n
And Ruto also secured a pledge for greater cooperation with China on the Rironi-Mau Summit-Malaba motorway, which Kenyan media has said is expected to cost $1.2 billion.<\/p>\n
Ruto last year asked China for a $1 billion loan and the restructuring of existing debt to complete other stalled construction projects. The country now owes China more than $8 billion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n