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The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is a key platform for collective dialogue and cooperation between China and African countries.
President Muhammadu Buhari led the Nigerian delegation to the 2018 summit of the forum from September 3 to 4 with the theme; “China and Africa: Towards an Even Stronger Community with a Shared Future through Win-Win Cooperation.”
It was attended by 14 heads of state, 10 heads of government and over 200 ministers from African countries as well as representatives from regional and international organisations.
Since the forum was launched in Beijing in 2000, China’s investments in Africa have increased while its trade with the continent has overtaken that of the traditional partners, Europe and the United States. China has maintained its position as Africa’s largest trading partner since 2010. Its total non-financial investment in Africa in 2017 exceeded $100 billion, around 100 times more than that of year 2000.
In 2017, trade volume between China and Africa reached $170 billion, a 200-fold increase from the volume in 1978. In the first seven months of 2018, it reached $116 billion.
In his address at the opening of the 2018 FOCAC summit, China’s President Xi Jinping promised an impressive $60bn assistance and loans to boost Africa’s development.
The Chinese leader said the new $60 billion would include $15 billion of aid, interest-free and concessional loans, a credit line of $20 billion, a $10 billion special fund for China-Africa development and a $5 billion special fund for imports from Africa.
Chinese companies are also encouraged to make at least $10 billion of investment in Africa in the next three years. President Xi also announced that China would implement eight major initiatives with African countries in the next three years and beyond, covering fields such as industrial promotion, infrastructure connectivity, trade facilitation and green development. He also announced China’s support on capacity building, education, culture, health, poverty reduction, people’s welfare and people-to-people exchanges, adding that China would continue providing free military aid to the African Union.
China earlier provided new financing at the 2015 FOCAC in Johannesburg, South Africa, where President Xi also offered $60 billion in financial support for infrastructure development in Africa. The implementation work of the Johannesburg summit has been going smoothly with prominent achievements in Nigeria and other African countries.
President Muhammadu Buhari announced Tuesday that Nigeria’s partnership with China through FOCAC had resulted in the execution of vital infrastructure projects worth over $5billion across the country in the three years of his administration. He said through Chinese support, Nigeria had impressively addressed significant challenges in infrastructure, human capacity development, power, transport, agriculture and humanitarian assistance.
‘‘For Nigeria, our partnership with China through the FOCAC platform, has resulted in the construction of the first urban rail system in West Africa. This $500m project in Abuja was commissioned in July this year,” he said.
“This 180km rail line that connects Abuja and Kaduna was commissioned two years ago at a cost of $500m. Today, the rail line is functioning efficiently with no issues – indeed, a sign that Chinese technology is world class,” he added.
He also said Nigeria was leveraging Chinese funding to execute $3.4bn worth of projects at various stages of completion. These include the upgrade of airport terminals, the Lagos – Kano rail line, the Zungeru hydroelectric power project and fibre cables for internet infrastructure.
‘‘Furthermore, less than three months ago, Nigeria signed an additional $1bn loan from China for additional rolling stock for the newly constructed rail lines as well as road rehabilitation and water supply projects,” the president said.
He expressed optimism that the 2018 FOCAC summit would offer new opportunities that would build on the past achievements.
Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, listed a number of clear deliverables from the country’s participation at the summit.
Though it is unclear how much Nigeria would reap from the new $60 billion offer, he said the country would propose some projects to be financed with some of that money.
“We will submit projects and the Chinese, together with Nigerian officials, will look at them. At the moment, we cannot say exactly how much we will get and the projects that will be successful. But we are confident that we will get a significant portion of it,” he told Daily Trust. He said Nigeria signed some very important deals with China, among which are agreements on China’s Belt and Road Initiative and funding of ICT infrastructure.
Another gain of the summit, Onyeama said, is that President Buhari engaged with the Chinese president and brought his attention to priority projects for Nigeria.
“Top on that list was the Mambila hydro power project and we hope that as a result of that engagement we will soon see work commencing on this very important project,” he said.
During the meeting, the minister said Buhari raised the issue of Nigeria-China trade imbalance which favours Beijing.
“One of the points he made to address the imbalance was the issue of duty waivers for agricultural exports from Nigeria to China which at the moment are subjected to significant duty, making us less competitive and constituting trade barrier.
“President Xi took note of that and indicated some steps that they would undertake to address the issue, like waivers for certain agricultural products. President Buhari identified other products that should benefit from the waiver.
“President Xi also urged Nigeria to participate in the forthcoming trade exhibition in Shanghai in November because it will present opportunities for Nigeria to showcase what we have to sell to China,” he added.
Yewande Sadiku, the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), noted that FOCAC provides an opportunity for Nigeria to properly articulate what it wants from Chinese investors.
“For us, FOCAC is one of the avenues of engagement to ensure that we have a better understanding of China and the prospect it represents and to ensure that strategically, we seek opportunities and investments in China that we want rather than those that want to come to Nigeria, she said.
Sadiku, however stressed the need for Africa and Nigeria to ensure that their relations with China is two-way because the Chinese also need them.
“China strategically is an important partner not just for Africa but also for Nigeria. China is the fourth largest investor globally, the largest investor in Africa and in Nigeria.
“We know that the Chinese have a strategic interest in the continent. It is important for Africa and Nigeria to realise that their relations with China should not be one way because they need us.”
As Nigeria works towards implementation of the new deals signed with Chinese counterparts, Sadiku said it is important “that we seek investments that are sustainable, equitable, responsible and will help us towards achieving sustainable development goals.”
Elsewhere across Africa, a large number of railways, highways, airports, seaports and other infrastructure projects as well as a number of economic and trade cooperation zones were built or are under construction with Chinese assistance.
In recent years, China injected more than $2 billion into infrastructure in Zimbabwe. This includes $1,5 billion for Hwange 7 and Hwange 8 Thermal Power Station; $530 million for the expansion of Kariba South Hydro Power Station and $153 million for the expansion and modernisation of Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport.
The Entebbe-Kampala Expressway in Uganda is still something of a tourist attraction for Ugandans, nearly three months after it opened.
The 51km (31 mile) four-lane highway that connects the country’s capital to the Entebbe International Airport was built by a Chinese company using a $476m (£366m) loan from the China Exim Bank. It has cut what was a torturous two-hour journey through one of Africa’s worst traffics to a 45-minute drive in the Ugandan capital.
Source: Daily Trust
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