by Joseph Ngwawi – SANF 06 No 95
The role of the private sector as well as cultural and political ties come under the spotlight when more than 40 African leaders converge on Beijing for the Africa-China Summit set for 3-5 November.
The African leaders and representatives from the continent’s private sector will meet with their Chinese political and business counterparts to discuss China’s expanding influence in Africa as well as how the continent can benefit from this relationship.
Private sector cooperation will be one of the main issues to be discussed during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), also known as the Africa-China Summit.
One of the highlights of the summit will be the holding of the first meeting of the China-Africa Business Council in Beijing, signalling new efforts by the two sides to boost cooperation in private sector.
The business council was first established in 2005 to create a service network and communication platform for Chinese and African businesses.
The two sides will discuss the creation of favourable conditions to maximise the role of private businesses, which will inject new life into Sino-African relations.
The Chinese are expected to announce new measures to promote economic collaboration with Africa.
The country’s Ministry of Commerce is working with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the China Development Bank, the Export and Import Bank of China and insurance companies to design supportive policies and measures to facilitate bilateral cooperation.
To encourage and support Chinese enterprises to go to Africa for investment and cooperation, the Chinese government has taken various measures, including setting aside special funds and providing concessional loans.
Previously it was difficult for private businesses to get policy, capital, information and personnel support for their ventures. These resources were concentrated in public institutions or state-owned enterprises.
With domestic market competition tightening at home, Chinese private businesses view Africa as a viable market with a lot of opportunities.
The Chinese enterprises pledged to help their African counterparts strengthen local infrastructure and improve living standards.
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe said Africa will benefit more from a stronger relationship with China than with Western countries whose assistance comes with strings attached.
“It is cooperating with African countries on an equal basis without any desire to colonise Africa,” said Mugabe.
Bilateral trade between China and Africa totalled US$40 billion in 2005 while the Asian country invested US$6.3 billion in Africa during the same year, according to official Chinese statistics.
Africa’s exports to China as a proportion of trade with industrialised countries have grown from 0.43 percent in 1990 to 8.96 percent in 2004, and these are set to expand as a Chinese-driven commodity price boom takes the world by storm.
Bilateral trade between China and Zimbabwe totalled US$280 million in 2005, according to Hu, Ming, business counsellor at the Chinese embassy in Harare.
The most significant opportunity opened-up to Africa by China’s rapid growth is the enhanced incentive provided by rising commodity demand and prices.
Many African economies, including most SADC Member States, have rich primary product resources.
The Chinese have expressed interest to access Africa’s vast, but untapped, energy resources.
China’s ambassador to Namibia, Liang Yinzhu, recently announced his country’s intention to import an undisclosed quantity of uranium from Namibia to feed into its nuclear power plants.
“Most of the uranium from this country is going to Western countries, so we are making arrangements to also start buying,” he said
China is also looking at strengthening cultural ties with Africa. Cultural exchanges and cooperation have become an important part of Sino-African relations and have promoted mutual friendship.
To date, China has signed 156 cultural cooperation contracts with African countries, and more than 50 cultural groups representing the Chinese government have visited Africa. Over 170 African state cultural troupes have visited China.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of diplomatic relations between the People’s Republic of China and African countries.
China is also expected to pledge its active participation in United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations to safeguard peace and stability in Africa.
Since 1990, China has participated in a total of 12 UN peacekeeping operations in Africa, involving more than 3,000 Chinese peacekeepers.
Since 2003, the Asian country has contributed peacekeeping forces to UN missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Sudan.
A total of 1,273 Chinese peacekeepers are currently working for seven UN missions in Africa.
The FOCAC summit will be attended by more than 1,700 delegates who include representatives of over 20 international organisations.
FOCAC is a mechanism for collective dialogue and cooperation jointly established by China and Africa to cope with new challenges and facilitate common development.
Since the launch of the FOCAC in 2000, two ministerial conferences have been held in Beijing and Addis Ababa.
