African Development and China-africa Joint Efforts on the Belt and Road Initiative

For China and African states, synergizing their development plans and making joint efforts on the Belt and Road Initiative has become the strategic choice to enhance their relations in the new era. It calls for accurate grasp of Africa’s development trends and respect for African countries’ desire for endogenous development, while integrating the Belt and Road into the process of independent African development.

At the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in May 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping stated, “The pursuit of the Belt and Road Initiative is not meant to reinvent the wheel. Rather, it aims to complement the development strategies of countries involved by leveraging their comparative strengths.”1 China and African countries further agreed at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in September 2018 to “form a strong synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations, Agenda 2063 of the African Union (AU), as well as the development strategies of African countries,” which will “lend new impetus to the win-win cooperation and common development between China and Africa.”2 Synergizing their respective development plans and making joint efforts on the Belt and Road construction has become the strategic choice for China and African states to enhance their relations in the new era. It thus calls for our accurate grasp of Africa’s development trends and respect for African countries’ desire for endogenous development, while integrating the Belt and Road Initiative into the process of independent African development.

The AU’S Agenda 2063 and Africa’s Development Trends

Among the development efforts at multiple levels, the African Union’s Agenda 2063 represents the collective endeavor at the level of the entire African continent. It constitutes the common strategic framework, independently formulated by African countries, on inclusive growth and sustainable development. Agenda 2063 not only lays out Africa’s development vision for the next 50 years, but also summarizes the experience and lessons of development in the decades since the national independence movement on the continent. Its underlying thinking and specific planning are reflected in the Agenda 2063 Framework Document and its First Tenyear Implementation Plan, which emphasize a guiding vision “to build an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven and managed by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the international arena.”3 To realize this long-term vision, the Agenda proposes 7 aspirations, 20 specific objectives and corresponding action strategies, while analyzing detailed challenges, critical factors for success and measures to guarantee the Agenda’s implementation. Several basic trends of African development can be identified from the continent’s development reality, including from the Agenda 2063 and its relevant documents.

Regional integration

Regional integration has been a consistent basic strategy for African development since the national independence movement. Amid the successive vital transformations of national independence and democratization respectively in the 1960s and the 1990s, integration has been a historic choice made by Panafrican elites in a top-down fashion. Meanwhile, as African countries regard cross-border and regional cooperation as a realistic path to realizing their national strategies, integration has also become the bottom-up need for African states.

The AU reiterated its integration vision in its Agenda 2063, namely to build “an integrated continent, politically united, based on the ideals of Pan-africanism and the vision of Africa’s Renaissance.”4 The latest assessment indicates that the African integration process is concretely advancing at the sub-regional level with differentiation across the sub-regions. Among the eight sub-regional economic communities recognized by the AU, the highest level of integration is perceived in the East African Community (EAC), ahead of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Community of Sahel-saharan States (CEN-SAD) have the lowest integration level. Among the five criteria in terms of trade, infrastructure, production, finance and population movement, the greatest progress has been witnessed in trade integration.5 At the continental level, the 12 Pan-african flagship projects currently advanced by the AU have constituted the basis of the Agenda 2063’s First Ten-year Implementation Plan, among which the progress of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) and the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) have been the most outstanding. As of early May 2019, 52 African countries have signed the AFCFTA agreement, and 23 of them have completed with their domestic requirements for ratification.6 The agreement has entered into force on May 30, 2019.

Construction of economic corridors

Economic corridors originate from basic transport links, which gradually develop into various forms of transportation channels, or hard infrastructure. They are established when the channels are utilized by corresponding logistics

and systems that facilitate economic activities, which can be considered as soft infrastructure.7 Since the Northern Corridor was launched by virtue of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in 2002, 38 economic corridors were constructed in Africa: 5 in Central Africa, 10 in East Africa, 3 in North Africa, 13 in Southern Africa, and 7 in West Africa.8 In February 2017, under the auspices of the management authorities of the African economic corridors, the African Trade Policy Center of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa specifically convened a meeting to deliberate on the establishment of the African Corridor Management Alliance, in the hope of enhancing connectivity among countries along these corridors, strengthening market connections, and expanding their economic scope by effective coordination. The international community has been actively participating in the construction of African economic corridors. In 2017, the World Bank invested US$600 million in support of the Central Corridor, a maritime infrastructure project in East Africa that links Tanzania, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. Japan has even explicitly formulated a strategic plan for participating in and supporting African economic corridors.9 Owing to the endorsement of infrastructure development plans on the continent from both the international community and African countries, the modernization of the various forms of corridors in Africa has progressed at an accelerated pace since 2010. Economic corridors have become the most dynamic new form of African regional economic cooperation.

Interactions at multiple levels

Since the independence of African countries, the African integration process has advanced concurrently at continental, sub-regional and national levels. Multilevel interaction, which is an important feature in Africa’s pursuit of integration and economic growth, has been consolidated and strengthened in Africa’s

development realities in the new century and in planning the Agenda 2063. The Agenda sets up 7 aspirations and 20 subordinate objectives, which are further divided into 41 priority areas and finally manifested in 161 specific targets at the national level. To optimize the Agenda’s implementation, each level has been assigned with the most suitable tasks. At the national level, governments of African countries are responsible for the enforcement of the Agenda’s key activities. At the sub-regional level, economic communities of the African sub-regions serve as platforms to implement the activities and make the continental framework more specific and operable according to respective conditions. At the continental level, AU organs, especially the AU Commission, are in charge of establishing an overall framework, while supervising and assessing the performances of sub-regional economic communities based on their inputs.10 How to enhance interaction

and ensure coordination and consistency among the three levels is the crucial prerequisite of African integration and sustainable development. In the 1980s and the 1990s, while there was a continental consensus and support for a vision of socio-economic transformation, the Western-dominated structural adjustments at the national level impeded the progress of African integration. The divergence between the various policies adopted by many African governments and a coherent continental strategy provided an important lesson. Therefore, Agenda 2063 has put a special emphasis on strong political leadership to ensure effective adherence to and implementation of continental plans and commitments at national and sub-regional levels.

Strengthening self-awareness and localization efforts

Firstly, there is growing awareness and self-confidence that Africa has to formulate its own independent development plans. In one instance this is reflected in Africa’s increasing consciousness that it needs a comprehensive strategy. African countries have come to adopt common positions on many development issues regarding the continent. For example, there were common African positions on the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and concerning negotiations on global climate change governance. In another instance this awareness for independence is embodied in the AU’S Agenda 2063, which was released after extensive and in-depth consultation with stakeholders of African interests, including overseas African diaspora. The Agenda is formulating Africa’s aspirations by emphasizing that an African vision of integration, peace and prosperity must be built on Africa’s own strength. Secondly, Africa has a strong conviction that it needs to independently implement its development plans. This is epitomized in its strategy of development financing, which has long been a major challenge for African sustainable development. At the national level, an increasing number of African countries are seeking to reinforce domestic tax collection and management, in order to satisfy most financing needs. At the sub-regional level, the Maghreb Bank for Investment and Foreign Trade, the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, the Development Bank of Central African States, and the East African Development Bank are all

playing a more prominent role in regional financing. COMESA has promoted the establishment of an African Trade Insurance, and ECOWAS is planning an investment guarantee agency in the West-african sub-region. At the continental level, the Africa 50 Fund, designated to contribute to the financing of priority infrastructure projects from domestic resources, is potentially a key milestone in development a financing framework for Africa. The Au-approved Africa Credit Guarantee Agency (ACGA) and African Investment Bank (AIB) are two major continental development financing vehicles.11 Thirdly, localization of the energy and other sectors, which were traditionally dominated by the West, is accelerating. In recent years, relevant African countries have passed more stringent localization bills in the field of energy resources and development, to claim their independent rights and authoritative status.12

Diversification of partnerships

External partnership plays a crucial role in Africa’s pursuit of development. Following the end of the Cold War, Africa mainly focused on traditional Western development partners, making its partnership structure relatively one-sided and Western-dominated. However, since the launch of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development in 2001, Africa has decided to rearrange its partnerships in the hope of realizing the Millennium Development Goals.13 With the collective rise of emerging countries in the 21st century, China, India, Turkey, South Korea and Brazil have been getting involved in the cause of African development cooperation, which transformed and diversified the continent’s composition of international trade, investment, and foreign aid systems. This is manifest, for example, in the development financing in Africa. Currently, the major investors not only include traditional Western countries and organizations, but also extend to emerging countries and other actors such as BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), MINT countries (Mexico, Indonesia

and Turkey) and oil-rich Arab states from the Middle East.14 Moreover, the AU no longer puts special emphasis on Western partners; instead, it begins to adopt a more prudent, pragmatic and balanced position toward both traditional and emerging development partners. The five major partners highlighted by the AU not only include the European Union, the United States and Japan, but also China and India. The AU is also considering the formulation of a partnership strategy, to give full play to all partners’ potential and value for African development. In this strategy, consistency with the African development agenda, the scale of financial commitment, and the potential in various areas are the crucial criteria for Africa to manage and deepen its partnerships.

New Progress in China-africa Cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative

Since the Belt and Road Initiative was launched in 2013, its impact on Africa has gone through an evolution from pilot implementation phase to strategic synergy. The time period from President Xi Jinping’s first proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013 until the convening of the FOCAC Johannesburg Summit in 2015 can be characterized as the stage of pilot implementation.15 In this stage, China established the guideline of sincerity, real results, affinity, and good faith in working with African countries, and proposed the principle of upholding justice while pursuing mutual interests and the notion of building a China-africa community with a shared future. In addition, it put forward a planning framework of “three networks and one industrialization” - high-speed railway network, expressway network, regional aviation network, and infrastructure industrialization - while at the same time identifying some model countries

for demonstrating cooperation on production capacity. The Johannesburg Declaration of the 2015 FOCAC summit marked the beginning of a new stage of strategic China-africa Belt and Road cooperation, by outlining that China and Africa would “actively explore the linkages between China’s initiatives of building the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and Africa’s economic integration and sustainable development agenda.”16. As a result, in the three years following the summit major progress has been witnessed in many key aspects.

Key issues clarified in strategic synergy

Compared with the ambiguity of Africa’s position in the initial stage of the Belt and Road Initiative, since 2016, the status of Africa in the Initiative has become increasingly clear. In September 2016, Lin Songtian, then Director-general of the Department of African Affairs of China’s Foreign Ministry, pointed out that Africa is an important direction and foothold of the Belt and Road Initiative.17 During his visit to Africa in early 2017, Foreign Minister Wang Yi also indicated that positive progress had been observed in the synergy and consultation on the Belt and Road construction between China and African countries, especially those on the continent’s east coast.18 The official document published at the inaugural Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in May 2017 further confirmed Africa as a key partner in jointly building the Belt and Road.19 The FOCAC Beijing Summit in September 2018 also featured joint contributions by China and Africa to the Belt and Road Initiative as an important theme. According to the Beijing Declaration adopted at the summit, “Africa, being part of the historical and

natural extension of the Belt and Road, has been an important participant in this initiative.” Likewise, the declaration states that China and Africa “agree to form a strong synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations, Agenda 2063 of the African Union, as well as the development strategies of African countries.” Meanwhile, the two sides would promote closer connectivity in policy, infrastructure, trade, finance and people-to-people ties, and strengthen cooperation on production capacity under the Belt and Road Initiative.20 Furthermore, as expressed in the declaration, the FOCAC was pronounced a major platform for China-africa cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. All this has not only demonstrated the strategic level on which the Belt and Road Initiative has been implemented in Africa, but it has also clarified that a new permanent institutional consultation platform had been created for the Belt and Road construction in Africa. The FOCAC will draw on its successful experience and shoulder the crucial mission aimed at building a China-africa community with a shared future.

Rapid increase of countries formally involved in synergy

Synergy with the development strategies of African countries represents the most fundamental level of China’s Belt and Road construction in Africa. In the stage of pilot implementation, China chose Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and the Republic of the Congo as model countries for demonstrating cooperation on production capacity. At the start of the strategic synergy stage, Egypt and South Africa were the only African countries that signed the Belt and Road cooperation framework document with China. As the Belt and Road construction bore fruit in those countries that lead the way, and with a growing comprehension among African countries of the nature of the Chinese initiative, in July 2018, seven more countries, namely Sudan, Madagascar, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Senegal and Rwanda, signed the memorandum of cooperation on jointly building the Belt and Road. 13 countries, namely Egypt, Algeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya,

Tanzania, South Africa, Mozambique, the Congo Republic, Angola, Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon, ratified the framework agreement for international cooperation on production capacity.21 During the FOCAC Beijing Summit in early September 2018, another 28 countries have put their signature to the Belt and Road memorandum of cooperation, thus increasing the number of African nations which have entered the cooperation framework to 37. This will step up cooperation on production capacity between China and relevant African countries, and offer opportunities brought by the Belt and Road Initiative to follow on an in-depth, concrete and sustainable development path.

Substantial progress in project cooperation

As of June 2018, China and Africa had reached agreements on 39 major cooperative projects under the Belt and Road framework, covering 17 areas such as railways, highways, ports and hydropower stations.22 Many of these projects are rapidly advancing. The Mombasa-nairobi Railway, the Addis Ababa-djibouti Railway, the Port of Djibouti, Togo’s Port of Lome, and Cote d’ivoire’s hydropower station in Soubre, among other Chinese-invested and Chinese-built projects, are either completed or under construction. During the FOCAC Beijing Summit, China signed memoranda of understanding (MOU) for international cooperation on production capacity with Egypt, South Africa, Ghana, and Cote d’ivoire respectively, which involved 42 key projects. Among them, business contracts have been formally signed for Egypt’s clean coal-fired power station in Hamrawein and the second phase of Egypt’s new administrative capital business district. During the summit, infrastructure projects witnessed further expansion. China signed MOUS with relevant African countries on the renovation of the old Djibouti port, Gabon’s Gentil deep-water port, and the enlargement of Cote d’ivoire’s Abidjan International Airport.23 In

the process of promoting cooperation on production capacity, China’s National Development and Reform Commission has also coordinated a financing mechanism involving the China Development Bank, the Export-import Bank of China, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which realizes overseas synergy of Chinese financial institutions and improves financing services for cooperative projects.

Remarkable outcomes of institutional cooperation in specific fields

Under the FOCAC framework, there have emerged several sub-forums. So far, the sub-forums on agriculture, science and technology, law, finance, culture, think tanks, youth, women, people-to-people exchanges, media, and local government have held regular annual meetings and have established themselves as platforms for dialogue and discussions between China and Africa in their respective fields of interest, providing intellectual support and impetus for China’s and Africa’s joint construction of the Belt and Road. As was pointed out in the FOCAC Beijing Action Plan (2019-2021), the two sides will continue to leverage the role of existing sub-forums under FOCAC, and jointly advance the establishment or institutionalization of new subforums to substantiate FOCAC and China-africa cooperation across all areas.24 Remarkable outcomes have been attested in the specific fields covered by these sub-forums. For example, the Investing in Africa Forum has been launched at the FOCAC Johannesburg Summit in 2015, and four meetings have been held so far, with large amounts of cooperation agreements signed at each one of them. During the fourth Investing in Africa Forum in September 2018, China and Africa signed 16 project agreements, covering multiple fields such as agriculture, industry, energy, industrial park construction, medicine and health. The amount of allocated investment reached US$1.37 billion.25 The Investing in Africa Think Tank Alliance has also been founded under the forum to serve as a knowledge synergy platform that provides solutions for development

bottlenecks facing African countries.

Expansion of cooperation in scale and depth

From 2016 to August 2018, the accumulated volume of China-africa trade exceeded US$400 billion, with China being the largest trading partner of Africa for nine consecutive years. China’s accumulated direct investment in Africa surpassed US$8 billion, and Africa is becoming a major emerging destination for investment from Chinese enterprises. The accumulated amount of China’s newly contracted projects topped US$200 billion, and Africa is in a stable position as China’s second largest overseas market for contracted projects.26 The advance of the Belt and Road Initiative is not only reflected in the expansion of scale, but also in the improvement of quality. Under the Belt and Road framework, the China-africa trade structure is constantly optimized, and the patterns and entities of investment are also becoming increasingly manifold. Besides sole proprietorship and joint ventures, other investment patterns include equity participation as well as mergers and acquisitions. Apart from state-owned enterprises, companies from the private sector, as a new force, are also rapidly increasing their investment in Africa. As a manifestation of the deepening Belt and Road cooperation between the two sides, China’s participation in African infrastructure development has begun to transcend the early stages of investment and construction, and gradually shifted to a more holistic approach that integrates investment, project building and operation. Since the Chinese Ministry of Commerce approved the establishment of seven economic and trade zones in Africa in 2008, China has invested in 25 economic and trade cooperation zones in 16 African countries, with an accumulated investment volume exceeding US$6 billion.27 Since 2015, China-africa economic and trade cooperation zones have achieved steady development, with initial infrastructure construction completed and investment promotion seeing

substantial progress. A great number of enterprises have been attracted to the industrial parks, and a variety of socio-economic benefits have come to gradually emerge.28

Thoughts on In-depth Cooperation

China-africa joint Belt and Road construction has entered a new period of historic opportunities. Since the beginning of the new century, several favorable factors have lent more predictability to the prospects of African development, including a good performance of economic growth, a generally improving security situation, huge demographic dividends, a rapid process of urbanization, global movement of populations, and a new industrial revolution. Moreover, the high complementarity in terms of human resources, technology and capital between China and Africa has boosted the already tremendous potential of their Belt and Road synergy. At the same time, it should be noted that China-africa cooperation is still faced with severe risks and pressures. Alongside the positive picture just depicted, there is also another scenario facing China-africa joint Belt and Road construction, where an overall expansion of African countries’ external debt,29 the accelerated depreciation of their local currencies, uncertainties regarding their economic policies, the partial persistence of terrorist threats, and the intensification of major-power competition has to be taken into account.30 Therefore, it is China’s strategic mission to reflect on how to seize opportunities and properly handle risks, and give the cooperation potential a sustainable impetus.

Keeping pace with African integration more vigorously and precisely

Supporting African integration has always been a pillar of China’s Africa strategy, but there is still room for improvement in terms of vigor and precision, when it comes to the implementation of specific policies. This is mainly reflected in two aspects. First, while attaching great importance to the African Union at the continental level, China has not sufficiently engaged in the economic communities at the sub-regional level. For example, although China has decided to jointly formulate a China-africa infrastructure cooperation plan with the AU, no specific sub-regional plans have been drawn up. Second, while synergy with individual countries is appreciated, many vibrant sub-regional economic cooperation arrangements and economic development corridor projects have been regrettably ignored. This is inconsistent with the new trend of multi-level interaction in African development. In fact, sub-regional organizations are currently the most active and effective platform for economic cooperation among neighboring African countries. They are not only the foundation of African integration at the continental level, but they also make up a crucial regional factor that directly influences the strategic development arrangements of African countries, playing an extraordinary role in motivating and coordinating the various regional forces.31 Given this situation, it is necessary to strengthen synergy with African sub-regional organizations at the earliest possible time, and actively advance cooperative relations with these organizations, in order to build and reinforce a region-wide cooperation network for Chinese enterprises in Africa. Additionally, symposiums on specific topics should be arranged to enhance mutual understanding between China and the sub-regional organizations, and discover potential mutual opportunities for synergy. Moreover, to actively advance synergy with African economic corridors, China should conduct specific research on these corridors and acquire thorough knowledge of their development level, maturity, prospects and existing problems. Institutional contact with the African Corridor Management Alliance should be established

to integrate China’s development and infrastructure investment plans in Africa’s economic and trade zones with these African corridors.

Giving play to FOCAC’S role as mechanism support

Since its inception, the FOCAC has developed into an effective platform for China-africa cooperation, leading international cooperation efforts on the continent into a fairer, more reasonable and mutually beneficial direction. The FOCAC’S success lies in its basic principle of equal treatment, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, its feature of close mutual interaction, and the strong political willingness to cooperate on both sides.32 The characteristics of the FOCAC mechanism are consistent with the principle of wide consultation, joint contribution and mutual benefits, as well as the basic idea of peaceful cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and win-win outcomes upheld by the Belt and Road Initiative. At the 2018 Beijing Summit, the FOCAC was established as the major platform for Chinaafrica joint Belt and Road construction. Giving play to the FOCAC’S role is thus a fundamental strategic choice for Belt and Road cooperation between the two sides. To meet this objective, efforts should be made in the following aspects. First, maximizing the FOCAC’S openness and representativeness, and encouraging more stakeholders of Chinese and African interests to participate in the forum’s consultation process. In particular, sub-regional organizations should be encouraged to put forward plans regarding regional development and integration priorities, and to get involved in the FOCAC’S design of specific projects. Second, establishing new sub-forums or institutionalizing existing sub-forums, to provide support for China-africa policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bonds. The first ever China-africa Private Sector Cooperation Summit was convened in September 2018. Considering the practical needs of Chinaafrica cooperation, sub-forums can be set up in relevant fields with different participating entities to add drive and support for specific forms of cooperation.

The African Union’s Agenda 2063 represents the collective endeavor at the level of the entire African continent. It constitutes the common strategic framework, independently formulated by African countries, on inclusive growth and sustainable development.