Fund to push for more cooperation

Chairman says goals include drawing more capital to infrastructure and housing projects across Africa

With more foreseeable cooperation opportunities and greater prosperity in Kenya, the China-Africa Development Fund will further encourage and help Chinese enterprises to invest in the country, according to Chi Jianxin, chairman of the fund.

To cater to the growing financial demand, he says the fund will open its fifth representative office in Kenya. It also has offices in South Africa, Ethiopia, Zambia and Ghana.

"Kenya will be a key country for our operation in Africa," he says. "We hope to bring more Chinese enterprises to invest in infrastructure, housing and production capacity cooperation," he says, adding that the fund is in talks with the Kenyan government about a new industrial park.

At the opening ceremony of the Johannesburg summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in December, President Xi Jinping said China would roll out 10 major plans to boost cooperation with Africa in the next three years.

The package will cover industrialization, agricultural modernization, infrastructure, financial services, green development, trade and investment, poverty reduction and public welfare, public health, people-to-people exchanges, and peace and security.

To ensure smooth implementation, Xi said his government will provide $60 billion in funding, including $5 billion of additional capital for the China-Africa Development Fund.

"The increase in support for the fund indicates that previous cooperation reached the expected goals and won the recognition of African countries," Chi says.

However, he says that in terms of investment in infrastructure, efforts need to be strengthened. To this end, the fund has joined several companies in setting up the China Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corp.

In the coming years, the fund will strengthen cooperation with governments of African nations to attract more capital in the form of public-private partnerships and guide funding into projects that will enhance the ability of Chinese enterprises to invest and conduct engineering cooperation in Africa, Chi says.

At the same time, the fund will guide investment into residential housing, education and healthcare, and will pay attention to strengthening investment in agriculture to enhance added value, he adds.

Moreover, the fund will increase cooperation with international organizations, such as the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization, and with developed countries to support the development of Africa through third-party cooperation.

"In this way, as a result of China-Africa cooperation, products will gain recognition in the global market and thus enhance the competitiveness of African countries," Chi says.

The establishment of the fund, with initial capital of $5 billion, was one of eight measures announced by the Chinese government in 2006 at the first FOCAC summit in Beijing to support and encourage Chinese enterprises to invest in Africa.

In the past nine years, the fund has invested a total of $2.6 billion in 87 projects across 36 countries. In addition, it has encouraged Chinese enterprises to invest more than $17 billion.

The investment has mainly covered infrastructure, equipment and manufacturing, as well as building materials, housing, cement and glass, and agricultural machinery.

The fund has also helped to set up economic and trade parks in Egypt, where Chinese enterprises make up 70 percent of the businesses, and Nigeria. These projects have boosted local economies and created about 1 million jobs, Chi says.

panzhongming@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 09/16/2016 page29)