The multiplier effect

At the FOCAC Johannesburg Summit held in South Africa last December, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced 10 major China-africa cooperation plans for 2016-18, backed by grants, funds, zero-interest loans and loans on favorable terms valued at $60 billion.

Eight months later, more than 100 Chinese and African ministerial officials attended the coordinators’ meeting on July 29 to evaluate and review the implementation of agreements reached at the FOCAC Summit in Johannesburg.

Since the summit, China and Africa have signed 243 cooperation agreements of various kinds worth $50.725 billion, said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Ming at the press briefing after the meeting.

“Among the agreements, Chinese companies’ direct investment and commercial loans to Africa exceed $46 billion, accounting for 91 percent of the total volume, covering the areas of industrial cooperation, special economic zones, power plants and agricultural projects,” he said.

Zhang believes the achievement of the FOCAC Johannesburg Summit has revitalized the market to boost China-africa cooperation, calling this the “multiplier effect.”

“Like a catalyst, China’s $60-billion Africa-focused funding speeds up the rate of the chemical reaction of China-africa cooperation in the market environment, which has successfully brought a large amount of funding from the market, and attracted more investment to Africa,” said Zhang.