The China-Africa summit opened in Beijing on Thursday. Chinese President Xi Jinping said his country was ready to “deepen its economic cooperation” with the African continent and pledged $50 billion in financing over the next three years.
Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged on Thursday, September 4, to provide Africa with $ 50 billion in funding over the next three years and help create one million jobs on the African continent.
“In the next three years, the Chinese government is ready to provide financial support worth 360 billion yuan ($50.7 billion),” Xi said at the China-Africa summit in Beijing, also promising to help create “at least one million jobs.”
Xi Jinping said China is “ready to deepen cooperation” with the African continent in the economic field. China-Africa relations are experiencing their “best period in history,” he said.
First business partner
The world’s second-largest economy, China is the African continent’s leading trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching $167.8 billion (€151.8 billion) in the first half of the year, according to Chinese official media.
It has sent hundreds of thousands of workers and engineers to Africa over the past two decades to build these major projects and gained privileged access to Africa’s vast natural resources, including copper, gold, and lithium.
A total of 25 African leaders have confirmed their attendance at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit, according to an AFP tally. The summit is the largest diplomatic gathering held in Beijing since the COVID-19 pandemic. It is scheduled to end on Friday.
