China pledges $50 billion for African projects — RT Africa

Leaders and delegations from more than 50 African countries are gathering in Beijing for a three-day summit, which China’s foreign ministry has hailed as the largest diplomatic event the country has hosted in recent years. Chinese President Xi Jinping used the occasion to announce a $50 billion plan for joint projects on the continent.

The China-Africa Cooperation Summit (FOCAC) aims to strengthen ties between the Asian nation and a continent where the influence of Beijing and Russia is a source of concern for the United States and its EU allies, which are suffering setbacks in their presence.

In a speech at the opening ceremony of FOCAC on Thursday, Xi hailed his country’s relations with Africa, saying they are now at their peak thanks to nearly 70 years of unremitting efforts by both sides.

“I propose that bilateral relations between China and all African countries having diplomatic relations with China be elevated to the level of strategic relations,” Mr Xi said.

He announced ten partnership action plans that Beijing intends to implement with the continent to modernize and deepen cooperation, including investing in green technology, education, health, security and agriculture.

“China will provide Africa with 1 billion yuan in emergency food aid, build 100,000 mu (about 6,670 hectares) of standardized agricultural demonstration zones in Africa, dispatch 500 agricultural experts and establish a China-Africa agricultural science and technology innovation alliance,” said the president.

Xi Jinping pledged to provide financial support of 360 billion yuan ($50.6 billion) for the implementation of the ten projects until the next FOCAC, which is held every three years.

Earlier on Wednesday, China, Tanzania and Zambia jointly signed an agreement to revive a decades-old railway project aimed at boosting trade between the two African countries. The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority project, launched in the 1970s when Mao Zedong was China’s leader, aims to link landlocked Zambia to Tanzania’s access to the sea via the main port of Dar es Salaam.

Before the conference began, several African leaders, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema, Kenyan President William Ruto, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi and Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, held bilateral meetings with Xi.

During these meetings, Mr. Xi expressed China’s willingness to continue to deepen “solidarity and cooperation” The Chinese president also reiterated Beijing’s commitment to supporting Libya in its quest for stability, during his meeting with Mohamed Yunus al-Menfi, chairman of the Presidential Council of the divided North African country.

China is Africa’s largest trading partner. At the last FOCAC summit in 2021, Beijing pledged to import more than $300 billion worth of goods from the continent. China’s foreign ministry says the country has already exceeded that target, buying $305.9 billion worth of imports in two and a half years.