Presidents Bola Tinubu of Nigeria, Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti, among other African leaders currently in China for the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), slated for September 4 to 6 in Beijing, have begun to list their expectations on how the summit could advance China-Africa relations.
The Chinese President, Xi Jinping, is expected to address about 50 African heads of state during the summit. This year’s summit follows the 2006 Beijing summit, and the 2015 summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa, after which another summit was held in 2018 in Beijing, People’s Republic of China.
This year’s summit is also meant to boost the trade and diplomatic relations between countries in Africa and China as the latter seeks African cooperation on the alignment of China’s trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with Africa’s Agenda 2063. African leaders are expected to garner from their Chinese counterparts why the country has not fulfilled the pledge of the 2021 summit when China assured it would buy $300 billion worth of imports from Africa.
In the last three decades, China has emerged as a major player on the African continent, starting with the provision of loans, infrastructures and other social amenities.
According to the Asia Pacific, since 2000 when FOCAC commenced, China has built some 100,000 kilometres (62,138 miles) of highways and 10,000km of railways in Africa. This in addition to over 200 schools, over 130 hospitals, nearly 100 ports as well as 50 stadiums built on the continent.
The platform also cited the Boston University Global Development Policy Centre as saying that Chinese lenders have provided 1,306 loans amounting to $182.28 billion to 49 African governments and seven regional borrowers from 2000 to 2023.
With regard to Nigeria-China relations, President Tinubu will use the summit to sign many memorandums of understanding, covering different sectors of the Nigerian economy.
“Mr. President will also meet with his Chinese counterpart in the person of President Xi Jinping, where several MoUs will be signed. The MoUs will involve agreements in deepening cooperation, in green economy, agriculture, satellite technology development, media enterprise development and promotion, as well as blue economic development and national planning cooperation,” Ajuri Ngelale, Presidential spokesperson, said.
“This is going to be part of a broader engagement where the two heads of state will discuss matters of mutual interest across, not just the economy, but also on issues of national, regional and international security,” he added.
According to CNBC, South Africa aims to use the summit to discuss how to narrow the trade deficit between it and China.
“South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told China’s Xi Jinping on Monday he wanted to narrow his country’s trade deficit with Beijing, days before the Chinese leader is due to urge a summit of 50 African nations to buy more Chinese goods,” CNBC reports, adding that China is South Africa’s largest trading partner globally.
“With Western curbs on Chinese exports such as solar panels and electric vehicles looming, finding buyers for items that the U.S. and Europe maintain Beijing has overcapacity in is a top priority for Xi at this year’s summit, which opens on Wednesday,” CNBC notes.
Kenya is exploring how the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway will become part of a rail link that will connect the East African country with the Atlantic Ocean, further boosting trade with East African countries and the world.
Other African leaders currently in China include Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea who arrived in Beijing on Sunday; President William Ruto of Kenya; President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea; President Faure Gnassingbe of Togo, and President Azali Assoumani of the Comoros, among others.
