China, African leaders agree on major financing, trade deals at FOCAC summit in Beijing

Agreements on infrastructure, railways, energy and minerals top forum’s first day as Xi urges African support for China at UN, G20, Brics

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This year’s FOCAC summit in Beijing is the largest African leaders’ gathering in the Chinese capital in years. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 10:01pm, 4 Sep 2024Updated: 4:30pm, 5 Sep 2024

African leaders attending a summit in Beijing have secured major deals on infrastructure financing, green energy, space cooperation and trade expansion with China in bilateral meetings with President Xi Jinping.

The 9th Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), running from Wednesday until Friday, is the largest gathering of African and Chinese leaders since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kenya secured 2 billion yuan (US$281 million) to finance the construction of rural roads that will serve 70 per cent of the nation’s population – part of Beijing’s revised Belt and Road Initiative to focus on “small and beautiful” projects.

The East African nation also restarted talks to extend the Standard Gauge Railway from Kenya to Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Congo-Brazzaville, according to a statement by Kenyan President William Ruto’s office after a meeting on Tuesday.

“Kenya and China have excellent and cordial diplomatic relations. These ties have been mutually beneficial to our two countries, phenomenally transforming Kenya’s railway, road and port infrastructure, and deepening people-to-people exchanges,” Ruto said in the statement.

Meanwhile, Tanzanian and Zambian leaders agreed to a plan to rehabilitate the Tazara railway, which connects Zambia’s copper belt region to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam. The US$1-billion plan to refurbish the railway comes as global powers vie for control over critical mineral trade routes.