Last Updated on 05/09/2024 by Arun jain
To that end, Xi said Thursday that China would further open its market to African agricultural products, and that products from most of the world’s poorest countries, including 33 in Africa, would be exempt from all tariffs.
Xi said China will undertake 30 infrastructure projects across the continent as part of this Belt and Road InitiativeWhich have been criticized as debt-ridden countries.
But China also seems to be moving away from such megaprojects, as Xi promoted 1,000 “small and beautiful” projects across Africa, such as street lights in Addis Ababa that have transformed the Ethiopian capital’s nighttime skyline.
“The mega-infrastructure projects he invested in became overexposed. It was a bad loan,” Vines said. “But the new Chinese relationship is more clinical and strategic in that respect.”
China, the world leader in green technology, is also looking at Africa as a potential market for its exports as they face Increasing restrictions in the US and elsewhere.
China, which overtook the US as Africa’s largest trading partner in 2009, is intensifying its efforts towards the continent, approving $4.61 billion in loans last year in its first annual increase since 2016. Xi also met with several African leaders when he attended last year. A summit in South Africa A group of developing countries known as BRICS.
When the president Joe Biden Africa’s importance to global issues has been emphasized and organized Kenyan President William Ruto He has not visited the continent since taking office in 2021, except for an official state visit earlier this year.
“Everything starts with a step, and China is extending its hand,” said Abra Kafui Soleyannu, a journalist who attended the summit in the West African nation of Togo.
“So, like all other countries, Togo began to move towards China.”
Janice Mackie Frayer reported from Beijing and Mithil Aggarwal from Hong Kong.
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