Injecting Momentum The FOCAC has brought economic, infrastructural and people skills advancement to Africa By Hou Weili

By Hou Weili

Injecting Momentum The FOCAC has brought economic, infrastructural and people skills advancement to Africa By Hou Weili

By Hou Weili

The 12-year period since the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2000 has seen massive deepening of trade and economic cooperation between the two sides. The commitments made by China toward Africa during this time resulted in extensive infrastructure being built across the continent. The forum provides a unique opportunity for maintaining the momentum of progress.

“The forum is getting more and more important because it actually sets the stage and platform for us to meet each other to raise issues of mutual concern with regard to our relations, particularly how we can deepen our trade and investment collaborations,” Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, Foreign Minister of Ghana, told Xinhua News Agency at the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC held from July 19 to 20 in Beijing.

At the two-day ministerial conference, implementation of follow-up activities from the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC in 2009 was reviewed and new cooperative programs to be undertaken in the next three years were defned.

Economic driver

Since the FOCAC’s establishment the African economy has grown rapidly at 4 to 6 percent overall, making the continent one of the fastest growing places in the world.

“The economic achievement of the continent is driven by both internal and external factors,”Liu Hongwu, Director of Institute of African Studies with Zhejiang Normal University, told Xinhua. He noted that the most important external driving force was China. “The all-round trade cooperation between China and Africa under the FOCAC contributed a lot to African countries’efforts on poverty alleviation, social development as well as improving people’s livelihood,” Liu said.

The African side was also satisfied with China’s role in promoting the economic development of the continent. “Trade cooperation between China and Ghana had yielded abundant mutual benefts and opportunities, especially under the umbrella of FOCAC,” Mumuni said.

For example, with China’s financial investment, Ghana acquired much-needed capital and technologies, created more jobs, a competitive business environment and new markets, and promoted trades. “All of these have ultimately contributed to Ghana’s economic growth and poverty alleviation efforts,”the minister added.

In the next three years, China pledged to expand cooperation in investment and financing to support sustainable development in Africa. “China will provide $20 billion of credit line to African countries to assist them in developing infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing and small and medium-sized enterprises,” Chinese President Hu Jintao said at the opening ceremony of the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC.

Wu Sike, China’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, believed such commitment meant that financial investment to African countries in the future would be more practical and effective as it would be mainly conducted by enterprises instead of by the government. “It is of far-reaching signifcance to African countries’ capacity building efforts,” Wu told Xinhua.

Cheng Tao, Director of the Center for African Studies of the China Foundation for International Studies, echoed Wu’s sentiments. “China could help African countries realize industrialization and add value to their primary product exports, creating more jobs and enhancing their self-development capability,” Cheng said.

Adjusting aid

China’s determination to help African countries strengthen their self-development capability can be seen from statistics. It will launch an “African Talent Program” to train 30,000 personnel in various sectors for Africa in the next three years, 10,000 more than the total number in the past 12 years since the establishment of the FOCAC. In addition, China also pledged to offer 18,000 government scholarships, build cultural and vocational skills training facilities, and send 1,500 medical personnel to African countries in the next three years.

“It shows China is adjusting its focus on the way of assisting Africa, from helping them build visible infrastructure like bridges, roads and buildings to deepening assistance to ordinary people and cultural areas with the purpose of building intellectual backup for African countries’ development,” said He Wenping, a researcher with the Institute of West Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

For years, poor infrastructure and different customs and commodity inspection standards on the continent have hindered the development of African countries and their communication to the outside world.

“The future of our continent lies in integration, which is also an inevitable trend, as the continent will be more competitive when all countries are united,” Mahamadou Issoufou, President of Niger, said when he met his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao during the conference. He spoke highly of China’s efforts in supporting African countries’ integration.

To further accelerate the process, China said it would support Africa in transnational and trans-regional infrastructural development and help them upgrade customs and commodity inspection facilities to promote intraregional trade facilitation. “Such assistance is more practical as it was made based on the realities of the continent,” He said.

“Offering aid to Africa is a win-win option for both sides,” Chen Deming, Chinese Minister of Commerce. He noted that the aid will facilitate African countries’ economic development and create more jobs, which will increase African people’s incomes and purchasing power so that they could buy more Chinese products. On the other hand, aid projects in Africa will stimulate China’s domestic economy by expanding imports of building materials from China.

Peacekeeping efforts

Wars and conficts in some African countries still threaten people’s security and hamper the countries’ economic development. To create a secure environment for Africa’s development, China will deepen cooperation with the African Union (AU) and African countries toward promoting peace and security. “China will provide fnancial support for AU peacekeeping missions and the development of the African Standby Force and train more security officials and peacekeepers for the AU,”Chinese President Hu said at the opening ceremony.

“This is a new feld in Sino-African cooperation and shows China supports the AU to play the leading role in safeguarding regional peace and stability,” Wang Yizhou, Deputy Director of the School of International Studies with Peking University, said in an interview with Xinhua, adding that currently, besides political unrest in North Africa and the Middle East, there were also potential elements that could trigger confict inside Africa.

“Under such circumstances, strengthening cooperation in this feld will increase African countries’ capacity for solving regional hotspot issues by themselves,” Wang added.

And China’s fnancial support in this regard was also in line with African countries’expectations in regard to their long-time defciency in capital and personnel for peacekeeping efforts, he said.

houweili@bjreview.com