The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit held in China this week reflected a shared desire for modernisation, development and progress on the African continent.
Giving remarks at the Summit’s opening ceremony, President Cyril Ramaphosa said they believe that this shared desire was reflected in the ten partnership actions on modernisation to be taken by China and Africa, as announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“Through the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, the economies of Africa are being drawn closer together. We are pursuing projects that reach across national borders,” Ramaphosa said.
“We believe that FOCAC can play an important role as Africa works to build an integrated network of linkages between countries, within regions and across the continent.”
In his keynote address, President Xi said modernisation was an inalienable right of all countries.
“Africa is also awakening again, and the continent is marching in solid strides toward the modernisation goals set forth in the AU’s Agenda 2063,” Xi said.
“China and Africa’s joint pursuit of modernisation will set off a wave of modernisation in the Global South, and open a new chapter in our drive for a community with a shared future for mankind.”
He said they should jointly advance modernisation that was just and equitable.
“In promoting modernisation, we should not only follow the general rules, but also act in light of our national realities. China is ready to increase exchanges of governance experience with Africa, support all countries in exploring modernisation paths befitting their national conditions, and help ensure equal rights and equal opportunities for all countries. We should jointly advance modernisation that is open and win-win,” Xi said.
“Mutually beneficial cooperation is the sunny road to the betterment of long-term and fundamental interests of all countries. China is ready to deepen cooperation with Africa in industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade and investment, promote exemplary, high-quality Belt and Road cooperation projects, and build together a model for the delivery of the Global Development Initiative.”
To implement the 10 partnership actions, the Chinese president said they would provide RMB360 billion yuan of financial support through the next three years.
He said this broke down into RMB210 billion yuan of credit line, RMB80 billion yuan of assistance in various forms, and at least RMB70 billion yuan of investment in Africa by Chinese companies.
In addition, he said China will encourage and support Africa in issuing panda bonds in China to enhance their results-oriented cooperation in all areas.
Meanwhile, the Don Consultancy Group (DCG) Chief Economist Chifi Mhango said African countries should showcase and position its own industrialisation roadmap to China and seek support to address the China- Africa trade imbalances.
Mhango said if one was guided by the latest annual international trade data of 2023, the picture was that African countries faced challenges of trade imbalances which favours China.
“In short, there are more imports from China into African countries than what African countries are exporting to China in value terms. In 2023, China’s total trade with Africa expanded moderately by 1.5% to reaching $282.1 billion, based on General Administration of Customs data.
“However, Chinese total exports to Africa increased by 7.5% to reaching $173bn, while its imports decreased by 6.7% to $109bn in the year 2023, with commodity price fluctuations also contributing to this decline. Of concern, is the increasing Africa’s trade deficit with China, escalating to $64bn from a low of $46.9bn in 2022.”
BUSINESS REPORT