Chinese President Xi Jinping announced on Thursday that China will provide a whopping $50.7 billion in financial support to African countries over the next three years for the implementation of ten partnership action plans.
“Over the next three years, the Chinese government will provide financial support amounting to 360 billion yuan” (about $50.7 billion), Xi said during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
The ten partnership action plans cover areas such as mutual learning between civilizations, commercial prosperity, industrial chain cooperation, connectivity, development cooperation, health, agriculture and livelihoods, people-to-people exchanges, cultural exchanges, green development, and common security, he specified.
The Chinese president also promised to help create at least one million jobs in Africa. “A third of the world’s population lives in China and Africa. There will be no global modernization without the modernization of China and Africa,” he said, inviting African countries to raise their relations with Beijing to a strategic level.
“After nearly 70 years of relentless efforts by both sides, China-Africa relations are now at their best historical level,” Xi pointed out.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has already said that China and Africa could jointly lead “the renewable energy revolution.” Guterres also applauded China’s “remarkable record” in development, particularly in poverty eradication, describing it as “a great source of experience and expertise.”
Morocco’s Head of Government Aziz Akhannouch is on the ground representing King Mohammed VI. He is leading a delegation that includes Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita, Minister Delegate Mohcine Jazouli, Ambassador Mohamed Methqal, Ambassador to Beijing Abdelkader El Ansari, and Chakib Alj, President of Morocco’s investment arm (CGEM).