- Title: EGYPT: China to boost aid to Africa as ties blossom.
- Date: 9th November 2009
- Summary: SHARM EL-SHEIKH, EGYPT (NOVEMBER 8, 2009) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF CONFERENCE HALL FLAGS OF AFRICAN NATIONS SECURITY GUARD AT ENTRANCE AFRICAN DELEGATES ENTERING BUILDING WIDE OF MEETING HALL CHINESE PREMIERE WEN JIABAO SITTING ON PANEL NEXT TO EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK CLOSE ON WEN JIABAO MUBARAK BEGINNING HIS ADDRESS WIDE OF LEADERS SEATED AT PANEL PRIME MINISTER OF IVORY COAST (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT, HOSNI MUBARAK, SAYING: "We are meeting today in Sharm El-Sheikh to renew our commitment to the initiatives that we have agreed upon as the basis for our cooperation. We now deal with supervising what we have achieved from the time of the Peking conference until now. And will lay out a plan of action for the coming phase. Together we have achieved a great deal during the last three years. Trade between Africa and China has now reached $100 billion dollars annually and we are witnessing a rise in the size of Chinese investment and co-operative projects with regional groups. And together we also faced many threats, the most dangerous of which was the unprecedented rise in the price of food goods the year before last. And the international economic crisis that continues to impact us until today."
- Embargoed: 24th November 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Egypt
- Country: Egypt
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVABKRMMGBL234R3NBEWWW2BARM3
- Story Text: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao offers Africa 10 billion U.S. dollars in concessional loans over the next three years, saying China is a "true and trusted friend" of the continent and its people.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao offered Africa 10 billion U.S. dollars in concessional loans over the next three years on Sunday (November 8), saying China was a "true and trusted friend" of the continent and its people.
He made the announcement at a summit attended by Afrcian leaders in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
The aid offer is double that unveiled by President Hu Jintao at the last such summit in Beijing in 2006, as China aims to boost a relationship which politically goes back decades and is now economically booming, to the discomfort of some in the West.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak welcomed co-operation between Africa and China.
"Together we have achieved a great deal during the last three years. Trade between Africa and China has now reached 100 billion dollars U.S. dollars annually and we are witnessing a rise in the size of Chinese investment and co-operative projects with regional groups. And together we also faced many threats, the most dangerous of which was the unprecedented rise in the price of food goods the year before last. And the international economic crisis that continues to impact us until today," Mubarak said in his address.
Meanwhile, Wen Jiabao brushed aside concerns that China was only interested in Africa's natural resources to help feed its booming economy.
"We will increase Africa's financial capabilities and provide 10 billion U.S. Dollars in concessional loans over the next 3 years. We will support China's financial institutions to set up special development loans for African small and medium sized enterprises at the amount of 1 billion U.S. Dollars. We will write off loans that will have matured by the end of this year owned by all countries which have diplomatic relations with China or those in extreme financial difficulties and the least developed countries," he told summit delegates.
Besides the loans, Wen Jiabao said China would help Africa develop clean energy and cope with climate change, encourage Chinese financial institutions to lend to smaller African firms and expand market access for African products.
Wen Jiabao repeated that China would not interfere in the internal politics of any African country.
"We are fully confident that African countries can handle well their problems in their own way. China-Africa economic and trade co-operation is based on mutual benefit, win-win and openness and transparency. China's government will not attach any political conditions on its support and assistance to Africa, just as we have not done in the past and present," he added.
Blossoming trade and business ties have attracted Western accusations that Beijing is only interested in African resources, while Chinese commentators respond that envious Europeans still treat the continent like a colony.
The summit was attended by the President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and President Ahmed Bashir of Sudan, two countries often under fire for their human rights records.
Mugabe welcomed China's aid offer.
"Co-chairpersons, most of our economies are agro-based. Thus most of our people derive their livelihoods from agriculture. Accordingly, the achievement of the targets set out in the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs] number one, that is the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, is inextricably linked to the African agriculture sectors' development, performance and prospects," Mugabe said.
"We therefore applaud China's assistance through the establishment of agricultural technology demonstration centres, the secondment of a hundred senior agricultural experts to Africa, and the provision of inputs, machinery and equipment on concessional terms," he added.
China's friendship with Africa dates from the 1950s, when Beijing backed liberation movements fighting colonial rule.
Trade has risen sharply in the past decade, driven by China's hunger for resources to power its economic boom and African demand for cheap Chinese products.
This trend has not been without its critics, who say China is only interested in African resources and supports governments with dubious human rights records as a means to get them.
In the days running up to the summit some Chinese commentators have accused the West of still viewing Africa as though it were a colony.
Some Africans say China's approach differs from that of Europe or the United States.
Kwaku Atuahene-Gima, executive director of the Africa programme at the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai, said China's policies are based on mutual development whereas the west work around policies that tell Africans what to do. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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