China had pumped more than $30 billion into Africa by the end of 2014, more than 60 times the sum in 2000.
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President Xi Jinping has announced that China will help develop Africa by extending $60 billion in the form of grants, loans and development funds, as well as scholarships and training for thousands of Africans in three years.
China would encourage more Chinese enterprises to invest in Ghana and participate in its infrastructure construction, including power, telecommunication, ports and roads, he said during a meeting with his Ghanaian counterpart, John Dramani Mahama.
Delegates at a business forum held on Thursday in advance of the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (Focac).to be held in Sandton today and Saturday were united in the view that the relationship needed to evolve and, in fact, that it already was evolving.
Sticking to the Chinese tradition of non-interference in local politics, Mr Xi said yesterday: “China strongly believes Africa belongs to the African people, and African problems should be handled by the African people”.
“We particularly welcome China’s financing of the African Standby Force, which will assist us in our plan to silence the guns in Africa by 2020”.
China’s broader trade relationship with Africa has grown even more rapidly, to $US222bn last year-a record that made China the continent’s top trade partner for the sixth straight year.
“China and Africa have deepened strategic mutual trust and traditional friendship”, said Wang in front of African foreign ministers.
President Muhammadu Buhari met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
President Zuma also thanked the Asian country, South Africa’s biggest trade partner, by waiving visa requirements for Chinese diplomats entering the country. However, China has now assured that the country will train 200,000 African technicians along with enabling some of them to go to China.
According to China’s official Xinhua news agency, the assistance over three years will focus on 10 areas, including industrialisation, the modernisation of agricultural, financial services, green development and peace and security. “Poverty is the root cause of chaos while peace is the guarantee of development”.
He said China was committed to the principles of win-win situation that would promote growth and development of both parties. “Most of it is loans but it’s not clear if these are old or new deals”.
Another advantage, he said, was the fact that China and African countries share the advantage of having largely youthful populations which translates into huge potential, both as markets and as producers as well.
“China supports the resolution of African issues by Africans in the African way”, He continued.
“Here is a man (Xi) representing a country once called poor”.
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THE global commodities price slump and general economic slowdown have not affected the volume of Chinese commodity imports from Africa, the Chinese government’s special representative on African Affairs, Zhong Jianhua, said on Friday.
