Gulf Times
China pledges $5bn in aid to Africa leaders Published: Sunday, 5 November, 2006, 10:11 AM Doha Time
BEIJING: China yesterday celebrated its relations with Africa by pledging to double aid and offering $5bn in loans and credits by 2009 in a summit aimed at deepening ties with the continent. Chinese President Hu Jintao touted "the common pursuit of friendship, peace, co-operation and development" with Africa at the official opening of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation. "Our meeting today will make history," Hu told 48 African countries represented at the Great Hall of the People. "China will forever be a good friend, good partner and good brother of Africa," he said in his speech. "Common development is the shared aspiration of the Chinese and African peoples... We are committed to pursuing mutually beneficial co-operation to bring the benefits of development to our peoples." Hu announced fresh pledges of aid and loans in the next three years, saying China's aid would double by 2009, but stopped short of disclosing the value. China would also provide $3bn of preferential loans and $2bn of preferential buyer's credit loans to the continent, he said. Beijing would also cancel more debt owed by poor African countries in the form of interest-free government loans, he announced. China had already cancelled the debt of 31 poor African nations worth 10.9bn yuan ($1.36bn) during the past five decades. Hu pledged China would further open up its market to Africa by increasing the number of tariff-free export products from 190 to 440 and would establish three to five trade and economic co-operation zones in Africa. In a business forum later, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said China intended to more than double its bilateral trade with Africa to $100bn by 2010. "China will continue to open its market and will encourage Chinese enterprises to increase African imports," he told African leaders and entrepreneurs. A $5bn development fund to encourage Chinese companies to invest in Africa would be set up, Hu announced. Trade between China and Africa in 2005 amounted to $39.7bn - nearly a 10-fold increase from 1995 - and was likely to reach $50bn this year, according to Chinese officials earlier. Oil is a big part of that rise, with China last year importing 38.3mn tons of crude from Africa, accounting for 30% of its oil imports, according to official statistics. China's need to source more natural resources from Africa - including oil, iron ore, timber, cotton and minerals - has attracted the most interest from the Western world, which is watching the deepening ties with some nervousness. But despite criticism from the West on many counts, including the accusation that China is encouraging human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and Sudan, China and Africa insist that increasing trade and co-operation is a win-win situation. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, the host of the last forum, said Africa's partnership with China was based on "trust and mutual confidence". China has described the event as its biggest and most important international gathering since the founding of the Communist regime in 1949, and has taken remarkable measures to dress up Beijing to impress its guests. Banners proclaiming "friendship, co-operation, development and peace" have been pasted on most major streets in downtown Beijing in recent weeks, while more than 750,000 cars have been ordered off the roads during the summit. Many dissidents and activists have been put under house arrest to prevent them from staging possible demonstrations. A number of deals and a summit declaration are expected to be announced today, according to the official programme. – AFP