Improved partnerships and far reaching deals for West Africa at FOCAC Beijing

The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit kicks off amidst discussions between several African leaders and their Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, as they signed major agreements on trade, investments and important diplomatic pacts.

West African leaders attending the summit, some on state visit, are already ticking off items on a long list of objectives set to be achieved in China, meeting with Xi, and top executives of major Chinese firms as part of an extensive drive to boost trade with the Asian giant.

For the Nigerian government, discussions between the country’s president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Xi focused on high-powered bilateral agreements between the two nations. key areas discussed included green economy, agriculture, satellite technology development, media enterprise development and promotion, blue economic development, and national planning cooperation.

During the meeting, Tinubu said both leaders “agreed to establish a high-level community to foster robust development, stability, and security across the West African sub-region.”

He added that “The signing of five key Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), including those concerning the Belt and Road Initiative and the peaceful application of nuclear energy, further underscored the strengthening of our cooperation.”

Tinubu is reported to have also held a roundtable dinner with selected chief executive officers (CEOs) of Chinese firms in Beijing after earlier paying site visits to two prominent Chinese corporations – Huawei Technologies and the China Rail and Construction Corporation (CRCC).

The visit to CRCC signalled intentions to fast-track the completion of a segment of the country’s railway network between key commercial centres in the country, the Ibadan to Abuja segment of the Lagos to Kano high-speed rail line.

The Nigerian president’s busy schedule included strategic meetings with 10 chief executives of major Chinese corporations, boasting assets under management totalling over $3 trillion, across various sectors, including ICT, oil and gas, aluminium production, seaport construction, financial services, and satellite technology development, an official statement said.

The Senegalese appear to have also bagged significant deals in Beijing, following Xi’s hosting of the country’s president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, to a colourful reception on his arrival for the summit.

Both countries are reported to have signed an agreement on International Lunar Research Station cooperation at a space forum in east China’s Anhui on September5, marking a new global partner to join China’s ambitious initiative to launch an international lunar research station.

A meeting between Mali’s Assimi Goïta and President Xi in Beijing on September 2, involved discussions on improving relations between both nations while boosting trade and investment.

In the field of agriculture, China has proposed initiatives to help Mali modernise its agricultural sector by introducing modern technologies and training farmers in best practices. This contributes to food self-sufficiency and food security, which are major issues for the country, Malian official sources say.

On the heels of his meeting with Chinese president, Goïta granted audiences to representatives of two Chinese companies: Gangfeng and Wang Kang as part of strategic investments for the development of Mali.

Gangfeng, which operates across the entire lithium industrial chain, is particularly interested in the extraction and processing of lithium and other minerals, highlighting the strategic importance of this project for Mali and for the company.

Wang Kang, on the other hand, operates in several areas in Mali, including cement, ceramics, lime and iron production.

Goïta also visited Huawei headquarters in China, where an important memorandum of understanding was signed between the Malian telecommunications firm, Société Malienne de Transmission et de Diffusion (SMTD) and Huawei Mali.

The partnership aims to position Mali as a leader in digital transformation in Africa, Malian officials said, and it includes the strengthening of video surveillance in Bamako and regional capitals, the deployment of 1,000 km of optical fiber, and the construction of a state-of-the-art data centre for the government cloud.

Togo’s president, Faure Gnassingbe, who met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 2, will also be seeking to strengthen cooperation with China in areas like infrastructure, science and technology, and the digital economy.

For the Sierra Leoneans, engagements with the Chinese included the handing over of export certificates to the Sierra Leonean Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, a move that the Sierra Leonean President, Julius Maada Bio, who was present at the event, said would open up the country’s economy and enhance growth in the fisheries sector.

“With this certification, Sierra Leone will benefit more from and sustainably manage its marine resources. Thus, we could attract greater investment in the sector, support food security, and create more jobs,” Bio said.

The government, according to Bio, also signed two important agreements, one with Huawei, to broaden the country’s digital space, “expand investments, and intensify innovation.”

Liberia also appears on the verge of securing some important investment commitments from the Chinese as well. Beijing has its eyes on a deep-water port in Greenvile on the Atlantic Ocean. A subsidiary of China Railways is considering investing in the project.

It is expected that Initial negotiations on the project may start on the sidelines of the summit and would be part of the discussions on the itinerary of the country’s president, Joseph Nyuma Boakai, who arrived in Beijing on September 4.

China has spent $6.9 billion on port projects in West Africa in nine nations. It is likely, therefore, that the Liberian port of Greenville is also part of this sprawling expansion strategy of the Chinese.

Strategic partnerships announced

A significant outcome of these meetings is the announcement of elevation in relations with some states through China’s “strategic partnerships” mechanism, considered key to the country’s diplomatic obligations and also defining its role in “constructive global engagements.”

Goïta’s meeting with Xi resulted in the elevation of the status of Relations between Mali and China to a “strategic partnership”, President Xi Jinping announced.

By this announcement, Mali becomes the first French-speaking country in Africa to be elevated to the rank of strategic partnership of China.

This strategic partnership is within a broader framework of bilateral relations, graded as either “cooperative” or “strategic”, and the first in four levels of the strategic stage, which aims to promote economic and social development in key sectors such as infrastructure, agriculture, and education.

According to an analysis by the Chinese media platform, South China Morning Post, Strategic partnership is when the two nations “co-ordinate more closely on regional and international affairs, including military ones.” Strategic partnerships are usually used by Beijing to regulate relations with great powers.

Nigeria’s bilateral relationship with China was elevated to that of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership which represents a significant deepening of ties between both countries and implies greater cooperation in political, economic, security, and international coordination.

The Togolese president also secured an upgrade in his country’s relations with China to a comprehensive strategic partnership, like Nigeria.

“Comprehensive” indicates that this strategic partnership “is all-dimensional, wide-ranging and multi-layered. It covers economic, scientific, technological, political and cultural fields, contains both bilateral and multilateral levels, and is conducted by both governments and non-governmental organs.” According to the South China Morning Post analysis.

The question on many lips is what do these elevations in diplomatic relations mean for these West African States? President Xi’s speech at the opening of the FOCAC Summit, projects that the partnerships would open China’s market wider, and prepare the country “to enter into framework agreements on economic partnership for shared development with African countries to provide long-term, stable and predictable institutional guarantee for trade and investment between the two sides.”

Trade and investment analysts say the new partnerships may see a boost in financial investments from China again, which had dipped in recent years. They also anticipate that this year’s FOCAC summit may revive a trade relationship between China and West African States that had slowed down. The hope is that new solutions will be delivered to tackle development deficits in the sub region.