President Xi Jinping pledged to step up China’s support across debt-laden Africa with funding of nearly $51 billion over three years, backing for more infrastructure projects, and the creation of at least 1 million jobs.
China was ready to step up cooperation with Africa in industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade, and investment, Xi told delegates from more than 50 African nations gathered in Beijing for the three-yearly Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit.
“China and Africa account for one-third of the world population. Without our modernization, there will be no global modernization,” Xi said.
China, the world’s biggest bilateral lender, promised to carry out three times as many infrastructure projects across resource-rich Africa despite Xi’s avowed new preference for “small and beautiful” schemes based around selling advanced and green technologies in which Chinese firms have invested heavily.
The Chinese leader committed 360 billion yuan ($50.70 billion) in financial assistance over three years but specified that 210 billion would be disbursed through credit lines and at least 70 billion in fresh investment by Chinese companies.
At the 2021 China-Africa summit in Dakar, China promised at least $10 billion in investment and the same again in credit lines. This time, the financial assistance would be in yuan, in an apparent push to further internationalize the Chinese yuan.
After the opening ceremony, delegates adopted the Beijing Declaration on building “a shared future in the new era” and the Beijing Action Plan for 2025-2027, Chinese state media said.
Xi also called for a China-Africa network of land and sea links and coordinated development, urging Chinese contractors to return to the continent now that COVID-19 curbs that disrupted its projects had been lifted.
