daniel chigunwe
Lomé . – Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to supply another 1 billion doses of vaccines to African countries, as the continent grapples with the emergence of a new and potentially more transmissible Covid-19 variant.
President Xi said 600 million doses will be donated while the rest will be jointly produced by Chinese enterprises and African countries, without providing details. He was speaking via video at the eighth triennial Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in the Senegalese city of Diamniadio yesterday.
China has already sold 136 million vaccine doses to Africa and pledged 19 million in donations, according to the Beijing-based Bridge Consulting, which tallies deliveries through government press releases and news reports. Beijing has delivered 107 million of those doses, and another 11,6 million through the Covax initiative, the consulting firm said.
China will open “green lanes” for African agricultural exports to China, target US$300 billion in total imports from Africa in next three years, and provide US$10 billion of trade finance. It will encourage its firms to invest at least US$10 billion in the continent, rising to US$300 billion over three years,.
It will also allocate US$10 billion of the country’s International Monetary Fund’s special drawing rights – an international reserve asset – to African nations.
The two-day conference takes place as African countries are contending with the devastating fallout of the pandemic, which risks being exacerbated by the detection of the omicron strain.
China as Africa’s biggest trade partner has an important role to play in the continent’s economic recovery.
On the cultural front, China will support making all African countries it has having diplomatic ties with approved destinations for Chinese tourist groups and hold African film festivals in Beijing.
It will also undertake 10 poverty reduction and agricultural projects and send 500 agricultural experts to Africa; set up joint centres for modern agrotechnology exchange, demonstration and training.
Since 2006, China had doubled its investment pledge to Africa every three years at the FOCAC summit, Beijing’s main vehicle for managing its relationship with the continent.
Senegalese President Macky Sall said China’s relationship with Africa had been “tested by challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“I urge China to continue to support the continent by reallocating its SDR from the IMF,” he said in his opening address to the gathering, which preceded President Xi’s speech.
Beijing has emerged in the past decade as the world’s largest non-commercial international creditor, with its state-owned policy banks lending more to developing countries than the IMF and World Bank.
President Xi has taken a personal interest in the forum, addressing or attending the opening ceremony since he came to power. Previously, China had sent its premier to the summit when it took place in an African country. China and the continent take turns in hosting. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended in person.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt made video addresses. – Bloomberg
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