President William Ruto Thursday called on China to scale up its cooperation with Africa by helping African countries access concessional funding for development.
Ruto asked China to rally various stakeholders to double their contribution to multilateral development banks such as the International Development Association of the World Bank that offer developing countries low-interest concessional financing.
“This will enable more African countries to access concessional funding. It will support economies that are heavily affected,” he said.
Ruto asked China to support Africa’s call for reforms of the international financial system that, he said, was unjust to many countries in the Global South, including Africa.
He called on China to work with Africa on “debt treatment”, and particularly re-profiling of debt to incorporate a longer grace period and longer tenure for existing and future financial financing.
Ruto made the remarks during a meeting on the Belt and Road Initiative that he co-chaired with Chinese Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit in Beijing.
The theme of the meeting was “Pursuing High-Quality Belt and Road Cooperation: A Platform for Modernisation Featuring Planning, Building and Benefiting Together.”
Others who spoke at the session were Presidents Adama Barrow of Gambia, Lazarus Chakwera (Malawi), Brice Oligui Nguema (Gabon), Mohamed Younes Menti (Libya) and Al-Burhan Abdelrhman of Sudan.
African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat also contributed his thoughts at the event.
Other African Presidents and leaders attended three other such sessions at the same time in separate venues.
Ruto also called for reform of the international credit rating and debt sustainability systems.
He also announced that African leaders will be holding the first ever meeting to establish parameters for the proper assessment of the continent’s assets and gross domestic product, and new modalities for determining debt sustainability using Africa’s real wealth in Congo Brazzaville next month.
Ruto said the unjust international financial system has slowed down the development of Africa.
At the same time Ruto said Africa is keen on reforming the African Union in order to consolidate the continent’s voice, sharpen its vision and build greater consensus now and in the future.
He said the goal is to align the African Union to make it fit for purpose, efficient and agile.
“I urge all my colleagues to participate in this endeavour so as to position Africa’s perspective and ideas appropriately in global discourse,” he said.
He commended the cooperation between China and Africa on transformative programmes, saying Africa needs a robust foundation to achieve a radical turnaround.
He pointed out that this would be achieved through the implementation of transformative programmes, citing the enhancement of the continent’s connectivity through the development of essential infrastructure.
Ruto noted that, through the Belt and Road Initiative and the Four Global Initiatives, the partnership between China and Africa has helped African nations make significant strides towards inclusive growth.
He noted that these initiatives are enhancing Africa’s collective capacity to tackle complex global challenges, including unemployment, poverty, climate change, inequality, conflict and instability.
“In Kenya, the Belt and Road Initiative has significantly enhanced productivity in both rural and urban areas by facilitating efficient mobility and market access, and creating new opportunities for women and youth,” he said.
Ruto said the implementation of Belt and Road projects is transforming African economies and spreading undeniable investment and other opportunities in sectors such as finance, manufacturing and agriculture.
“Consequently, this has promoted our continent’s productive and competitive potential, and strengthened the partnership between Africa and China,” he said.
He said the nine-project Trans-Africa Highway Network which, together with the Great North Road, constitutes nearly 70,000km of quality infrastructure, has radically intensified Africa’s transport connectivity, leaving no country or region behind.
He said through Trans-Africa Highways 4 and 8, as well as the Great North Road, the BRI alone has significantly transformed Kenya’s geostrategic profile.
He said this has made Kenya a global hub for logistics, trade, investment, commerce, ICT, diplomacy and associated services.
Ruto said the completion of complementary projects like the Standard Gauge Railway will not only connect major oceans and relieve the logistical burden on the road transport network, but also enhance regional as well as Pan-African integration and radically open up the continent’s investment opportunities.
“In addition, these projects will hasten its emergence as the green global industrial hub in coming years,” he added.
Earlier, Chinese President Xi Jinping said his country will work with Africa to achieve its modernisation goals.
Xi announced a 10-point partnership action plan for Africa for the next three years. These include modernisation of industrialisation, agriculture, trade, investment, training and infrastructure; access of Africa’s goods to the Chinese market, 30 infrastructure connectivity projects and development cooperation comprising 1,000 livelihood projects.
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