跨境基础设施投资是关键

导读

The
National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative
Conference (CPPCC) and the National People’s Congress (NPC) held their
annual sessions (the Two Sessions) from 4 to 11 March 2021,
simultaneously. At the core of these Two Sessions, was the discussion
and adoption of the outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for
National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives
Through the Year 2035 which foresees the finishing building a moderately
prosperous Chinese society in all respects within the set time frame,
through a new journey in the coming years toward fully building of a
modern country. The approved long-term objectives aim at achieving
socialist modernization by 2035, through strengthening the
socio-economic development, technology development, industrialization,
and governance. China targets to become a high-income country by the end
of the 14th Five Year Plan in 2025, and to double the size of its
economy and GDP per capita by 2035.

For
Africa, the just concluded Two Sessions are significant in the promise
they hold for added impetus in the China-Africa partnership and
cooperation. In fact, China-Africa  cooperation have experienced
exponential growth in the last two decades thanks to the launching in
2000 of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which gave
practical expression to the historic solidarity that have traditionally
existed between Africa and China, in addition to the Belt and Road
Initiative (BRI) launched in 2013 by President Xi Jinping, initially
involving development and investment initiatives on infrastructures that
would stretch from East Asia to Europe, which was later extended to
Africa.

In
these two decades of FOCAC, the China-Africa cooperation have witnessed
various achievements in the political, economic, technical, scientific
and socio-cultural fields. The partnership have made vital and
formidable footprints in the struggle for sustainable development and
improved living conditions for people in Africa and has delivered some
concrete outcomes that are beneficial to both sides, including in areas
such as investment, trade, health, agriculture, energy, education,
culture and people-to-people exchanges, among other areas. In addition
to that, through the BRI, China has invested tangibly in Africa’s
infrastructural development, including railways, ports, airports,
hospitals, water, agriculture, sanitation, telecommunications and energy
related infrastructures. 

However, 
while the cooperation under FOCAC and BRI frameworks has delivered many
concrete outcomes that are mutual beneficial, China and Africa still
needs to utilize the partnership to the fullest in terms of the
potential of the available market, investment, trade and the business
opportunities.

Africa
in particularly, is keen on ensuring the implementation of the Agenda
2063. This Agenda is the continental strategic framework for the
socio-economic transformation of the continent over the next 50 years
and it is builds on, and seeks to accelerate the implementation of past
and existing continental initiatives for growth and sustainable
development. For its operationalization the Agenda 2063, includes a 10
years implementation plan in the areas of agriculture, free trade area,
industrialization, science and technology, infrastructures, etc. Also,
within the framework of the Agenda 2063, Africa has developed concrete
projects for the development of the continent, including the Programme
for Infrastructural Development in Africa (PIDA), the African
Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) the Comprehensive Africa
Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP), the New partnership for
Africa’s Development (NEPAD) – transformed into AU Development Agency
(AUDA) and regional plans of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs)
considered as the building blocks of the continental integration. 

One
of the key enables of the African development is the AfCFTA, which
represents a window of opportunity for African countries to promote
intra-African trade, diversify and structurally transform the
continent’s economy, and pursue important socio-economic development
goals. The goals of the AfCFTA is to harmonize the trade policies and
the regulatory framework, rationalizes trade negotiations, reduces the
cost of doing business, supports industrialization, and stimulates
cross-border infrastructure projects. 

It
is noteworthy that Africa still suffers from the lack of sufficient
infrastructures. The cost of infrastructure services is very high in
Africa than anywhere else in the world, and if not addressed, may
challenge the progress towards the full realization of the Free Trade
Area and undermine, trade, competitiveness and in some cases business
viability. As such, to stimulate economic development and secure the
full benefits of the Free Trade Area, investment in infrastructure is
required particularly the cross-border infrastructures that plays a
central role in Africa’s development agenda and are critical for
supporting the continent’s economic integration and growth.

In
order to realize the goals of the AfCFTA a strong partnership with
China through FOCAC and BRI are required to mobilize resources and
stakeholders to advance its implementation. The full implementation of
the AfCFTA will expand trade opportunities and improve the prospects of
Africa as an attractive investment destination. China and other partners
will benefit from investments opportunities and access to a wider
efficient and harmonized market. For this reason, the widening of
China-Africa public and private sector partnership is critical to
mobilize resources for investment in infrastructures, in order to
stimulate industrial growth and China-Africa trade. China has already
committed to support the efforts for full realization of the AfCFTA.

China-Africa
cooperation is still challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic. While 2020
was a challenging year for the entire world due to COVID-19 pandemic, in
Africa it has led to a slowdown in economic activities, destroyed value
chains, caused the closure of several companies and considerably
reduced tax revenues in the countries. Africa have been negatively
affected by the pandemic and is now feeling both the socio-economic
impact despite efforts being undertaken to control and manage its
impacts across the continent. In addition to China’ support provided to
mitigate the impact of the pandemic in Africa, the two sides should
continue to spearhead the epidemic response as guided by the
Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity against COVID-19
pandemic, including facilitating Africa’s access of medical supplies in
China, speeding up the construction of the Africa CDC headquarters, and
enhancing cooperation key areas such as health, vaccines and medicines,
work and production resumption, and people’s livelihood.
To optimize
the development partnerships within the approved long development goals
for China, Africa will be looking at areas where it can align itself
with China’s new thinking, particularly as it looks forward to upgrading
the partnership during the forthcoming (FOCAC) summit, which will be
held by the end of this year in Senegal. The 2021 FOCAC will be a
significant and far-reaching event that can take the win-win cooperation
and common development between China and Africa to a higher level.
China has already put Africa as one of its key development partner and
there is a huge expectation that the forthcoming FOCAC will enhance
synergy between China’s Two Centenary Goals with AU 2063 Agenda and the
development strategies of individual African countries. Post-COVID-19
socio-economic recovery, health, digital economy, blue economy and green
development should be highlighted on the forthcoming FOCAC’s agenda in
addition to the usual topics.

China’s
remarkable achievements in poverty reduction and absolute poverty
eradication in recent years have made it the first developing country to
achieve the poverty-reduction targets set by the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) ahead of the schedule. Hence, there is a consensus that
China’s poverty reduction approach serves as a useful model for Africa.

Africa
undoubtably is the continent of the future, with enormous economic
potentialities. This is to add the youthful population, which constitute
a large and rapidly growing proportion of the population in the
continent. Africa’s young population represents an opportunity to drive
the continent towards development and China as a consistent partner of
Africa and its member states, plays a key role in supporting the
empowerment of youth in Africa, through promotion of knowledge sharing,
entrepreneurship, cultural and experiences exchanges, etc.

There
is a need to strengthen the collaboration between Africa and China
towards achieving the outcomes that are in line with the aspirations of
Africa’s Agenda 2063, the FOCAC cooperation framework, and in achieving
China’s BRI cooperation objectives. This partnership will also support
Africa to achieve the Sustainable Development targets established under
UN Agenda 2030. All stakeholders are called upon to play a key role in
articulating the implementation of China-Africa development plans, and
mobilizing the necessary partnerships to such effect. 

Editor | Zhang Mei

Design | Demi