China dangles trade, aid as Africa summit opens
Source: Reuters
By Ben Blanchard BEIJING, Nov 3 (Reuters) - China will announce a package of measures covering aid, investment, trade and social development for Africa, state media reported on Friday, as Beijing opened a ministerial summit hosting some 48 leaders from the continent. The three-day summit, which follows a dialogue and trade forum, underscores China's deepening links with Africa, whose mineral and oil wealth it covets and whose countries form an important strategic bloc vote in world bodies. "We take great pride in China's strong and warm friendship with Africa," Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi said at the opening of the ministerial conference. "The forum has become an effective mechanism for conducting collective dialogue and an important platform for promoting effective cooperation between China and Africa." China's trade with Africa is expected to top $50 billion this year, and while the summit is largely about handshakes and banquets, analysts also expect it to be an opportunity to cement trade and investment deals that have been in the pipeline. Ghana's energy minister said on Thursday it was close to finalising a $600 million deal with China's Sino Hydro Corporation to build at 400 megawatt hydroelectric dam in the north of the West African country. Financing will come from state-owned policy lender Export-Import Bank of China, the minister, Joseph Adda, said. A Chinese consortium also recently signed a $3 billion iron ore deal in Gabon, which includes extending a railway and building a bulk commodities and container port. And last week, industry officials said Chinese investors would build a $200 million smelter in Zambia with a capacity to produce 150,000 tonnes of finished copper a year -- most of which would be destined for China, which is desperate for raw materials to feed its booming economy. Aside from trade deals, analysts say the summit, which winds up on Sunday, could bring fresh promises from China on debt reduction or training and scholarships for students, an effort to build goodwill on the continent.
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