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Africa / China - fourth ministerial conference
China pledges 10 billion dollars of loans to Africa
by Laura Angela Bagnetto
Article published on the 2009-11-08 Latest update 2009-11-08 17:09 TU
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the opening of the 4th Ministerial Conference of the Sino-African Forum at the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on Sunday
(Photo: Reuters)
The package is twice the value of the Beijing declaration of 2006 and has eight points. One of these involves trade tarriffs and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said on Sunday that China would remove tarriffs from 95 per cent of products that are moved from Africa's least-developed countries to China.
The package, like the Beijing declaration of 2006, has eight points. But the previous deal pledged half of Sunday's ten million US dollars.
One of the aspects of the deal involves trade tarriffs and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said on Sunday that China would remove tarriffs from 95 per cent of products that are moved from Africa's least-developed countries to China.
The ten million US dollars will go to low-interest loans to Africa, Wen said.
"I spoke to some leaders from southern Africa who actually said they were not sure who was going to get the money," says RFI's Laura Angela Bagnetto in Sharm el-Sheikh, although the leaders were not willing to give their names.
"One said 'we're going to pay dearly for this for the rest of our lives'", she says, but when pushed on what he meant, the politician "simply said to look at the leaders that China deals with".
Some points also touched on the environment, she says. "He said that China has decided to build 100 clean energy projects covering solar power, biogas and small hydropower", but it also provides for eductional exchanges, for "Phd students to go to China to learn Chinese as well".
Industry leaders from Africa and China have been at the summit since Saturday, to close deals and look for funding. The financial head of the DRC's National Federation of small-business workers and medium-sized businesses, Leonard Bwaba Mutshipay, attended the first day.
"One thing that we are concerned about is that the Chinese are starting to hold a lot of small businesses in Congo," he says, "they want to open wholesale stores and factories and then Congolese consumers go and buy there directly".
"Europeans wouldn't let Africans do the same in Europe," he protests.
The Chairman of the Foreign Trade Commission for Djibouti's National Chamber of Commerce, Adel Mohamed Abdallah, was upbeat about his country's economic future. "We have several military bases in Djibouti," he says, "at the moment the whole of Europe is in Djibouti because of the fight against piracy".
This, he says, is providing an opportunity for Djibouti to showcase itself, particularly as regards tourism. "For instance when people go on holiday they want unspoiled beaches - [but] if you go to Sharm el-Sheik there are too many tourists".
Back at the meeting of political leaders, Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir thanked China for its "efforts in backing the comprehensive peace agreement in Sudan and its efforts in Darfur".
