Onebelt,onelaw
New dedicated arbitration centers pave the way for greater Sino-african legal synergy
Disputes between China and Africa will now be decided by institutions which represent China and Africa and by arbitrators who are drawn from China and Africa.
there was a giant map unfurled beside him and as Lawrence Muiruri Ngugi spoke, he kept on gesturing at it for illumination. The CEO of the Nairobi Center for International Arbitration (NCIA) in Kenya traced the pathways of some of the biggest infrastructure projects in Nairobi: a mammoth oil pipeline, a highway and a standard-gauge railway (SGR).
“Infrastructure is the underbelly of Africa’s development,” Ngugi said. “Many regions of Africa, because of their colonial history, have lagged behind in development of infrastructure. Africa is [now] engaged in the development of infrastructure of every kind, airports, railway, stadiums, bridges [and] ports. And China has not been left behind in the development of this infrastructure.”
In Kenya alone, over 50 Chinese companies are implementing projects that range from a solar power park in north Kenya to building three berths at Lamu Port near the Indian Ocean. The SGR Ngugi referred to earlier runs from Mombasa on the coast to the border with Uganda, and is also a Chinese-contracted project. Three factors have given a stimulus to infrastructure
building in Africa and Chinese involvement in it. In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the Belt and Road Initiative - the Silk Road Economic Belt to develop infrastructure, trade and peopleto-people exchanges along the ancient Silk Road trade routes that ran through Asia, Africa and Europe. Two years later, the African Union launched Agenda 2063, its pan-african development blueprint with massive infrastructure plans to forge closer links among its 54 member states. The same year, at the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in South Africa, President Xi proposed 10 cooperation plans between China and Africa in 2016-18, which includes a specific China-africa infrastructure plan. Under this, China will use its expertise to help Africa design, build, operate and maintain infrastructure projects.