China-Africa: more than 200 cooperation agreements negotiated in Beijing after the Focac meeting

Following the meeting in Beijing to monitor the measures announced at the Sino-African Forum (Focac) last September, more than 200 cooperation agreements have or will be signed between the various partners.

Relations between China and the African continent are in good shape. "They have never been better," Zhang Xuguang, vice president of the China Development Bank, said at the follow-up meeting of the third edition of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum (Focac) in Beijing in September. 2018.

Ten months later, China again invited representatives of the 54 African countries to take stock of the progress of the eight major initiatives announced by President Xi Jinping to his African counterparts. Starting with the disbursement of the $60 billion promised by the Chinese head of state over the period 2019-2021, for the financing of 880 projects across the continent.

More than 400 African representatives, including 80 ministers and secretaries of state, responded to the Chinese government's invitation to participate in the dialogue, which took place on 24 and 25 June at the prestigious Diaoyutai centre, also used as a residence foreign heads of state on an official visit to Beijing.

Not sure that African ministers had time to enjoy the charms of the former Qing Emperors' Palace, as the programme was loaded during those 48 hours, during which bilateral talks followed multilateral conferences African officials and their hosts, in the presence of representatives of the nine Chinese funding agencies.

More than 200 cooperation agreements

Successful meetings, since more than 200 cooperation agreements have or will be signed between the various partners. "This illustrates the dynamism of our economic relations with the continent," Qian Keming, China's vice trade minister, said at the closing session.

The latter is well placed to measure this vitality, as since the beginning of this year, the pace of trade, which amounted to $220 billion in 2018, has accelerated further to 3% and reach the 85 billion while Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) on the continent increased by 20% at the same time, to the tune of $1.5 billion.

The Minister also took the opportunity to recall the progress made since 2018. The additional $20 billion credit line has already enabled the construction of the port of Maputo in Mozambique, the electrification of part of Angola, as well as the start-up of rail projects in Egypt and road projects in Côte d'Ivoire. The $10 billion, intended to encourage the establishment of Chinese companies on the continent, motivated more than 100 companies to take the African gamble, while the special $5 billion fund, earmarked to support African exports to the Chinese market, has opened the door to more than 350 agricultural products from the continent, such as Ethiopian soybeans.

A "win-win" model

Drawing on the reality of the figures, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong had a good game earlier in the day to recall the win-win model that he says characterizes Sino-African cooperation based on " honesty and solidarity," denouncing in passing the false campaigns that accuse China of neo-colonialism and of indebtedness to the continent.

He found himself an ally of circumstance in the person of the Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, guest of honour of the conference and who took advantage of this forum to sing the Marxist accents of his youth and denounce the Western imperialism of which was Africa in the past. He also recalled the 10 bottlenecks that economists say limit the continent's economic development, without dwelling too much on the tenth of them, namely the lack of democracy.

Like Amadou Ba, the Senegalese Foreign Minister, he focused more on the fragmentation of the continent and on the necessary sub-regional integration, the only one capable of creating economically viable markets. The head of Senegalese diplomacy highlighted China's important contribution on this issue, particularly in terms of infrastructure, with the construction of 10,000 km of roads, 6,000 km of railways, 30 ports and 20 airports.

"For the past ten years, China has been Africa's largest development partner every year, with a total of more than 100 billion investments made," said Amadou Ba, who is already working on the next edition of the Focac, which is planned to take place 2021 in Dakar.

Source: Jeune Afrique. Original Article: https://www.jeuneafrique.com/793953/economie/chine-afrique-plus-de-200-accords-de-cooperation-negocies-a-pekin-apres-le-focac/?utm_source=newsletter-ja-eco&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter-ja-eco-25-06-19