Africa/China: What is behind a comprehensive strategic partnership?

By African Bulletin on October 8, 2010

The 61st Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China: “China remains the world’s largest developing country with a huge population and a weak economic foundation. Our GDP per capita has just exceeded 3000 USD, trailing behind more than 100 countries. Therefore, China has to make lasting and arduous efforts so as to achieve modernization and enable all the Chinese people to live a rich, happy and comfortable life”( Ambassador Zhong Jianhua)

This will be a year that China and all African countries have adopted the Charm Al-Sheikh Plan of Action (2010-2012), whose chief is referred to strengthen exchanges in the next three years, in diverse fields as agriculture, food production, medicine, education, training, energy, credit agreements, trade promoting, scientific and academic networking. It is therefore a real roadmap to support a continent, eager for a win-win partnership and anxious to train its technicians, to promote its infrastructure and raising the level of its managers on the basis of mutual benefit and mutual respect of all contracting parties’ interests. To implement the recommendations of the Beijing Summit on China-Africa Cooperation, held in 2006, Beijing has provided from 2007 to 2009, its partners in the continent by more than $ 3 billion dollars of preferential loans, approximately 2 billion preferential buyer’s credits for export and has made available, since the conclave of Egypt, 10 billion dollars in loans at concessional rates, intended mainly for infrastructure projects and social development, while promoting the establishment of a specific credit of one billion dollars for SMEs in Africa to help them hatch. All these funds are related to the strengthening of the African countries’ logistics, the mobility and human resource management, being conditions necessary for the development of their industrial bases and strengthening their resilience to the international finance crisis. In this regard, the priority is the development of the railway network facilities, ports, airports and the electric grid of the China partners. By the way, China intends, with the launch of the Development Bank of China, to mitigate the chronic shortage of capital in Africa, improve self-development capacities in the continent and help Chinese enterprises to increase their investments in this part of the globe, once subject to rivalry bidding races between ideological blocs and the expanding Western powers. Since the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2006, the Beijing government has built in Africa, from 2007 to 2009, 126 rural schools, improved teaching conditions for 30000 students and approximately 700 organised seminars and training courses for officials and trainers in various fields. Chinese has recently announced the construction of 50 additional schools in the mainland, while providing educational equipment necessary for the proper functioning of these institutions and the training of 20 000 specialized staff including 1500 teachers, 2000 farming technicians and 3000 doctors and nurses.