This Day Online

ECOWAS positions for $10bn Chinese aid

The Vice-President of ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Jean de Dieu Somda, has said that the regional body is strategising and working towards attracting a fair share of Chinese aid and investment funds to Africa.

Somda disclosed this in Abuja at the start of the first ECOWAS-China economic and trade forum, which kicked off with the visit of a delegation from China Council for the Promotion of International Trade led by its Vice Chairman, Dong Songgen.

The delegation will be visiting the region June 15-24, which will be complimented by a China-ECOWAS economic and trade forum scheduled for Beijing between September 23 and 26 this year.

This came amidst fears by some stakeholders over cheap and inferior Chinese products in the Nigerian market. The President of the African Business Roundtable, Alhaji Babamanga Tukur, said he would wish to see Chinese industries transplanted in Africa instead of raw materials being removed from the continent for factories in Asia.
Tukur, who doubles as chairman of the NEPAD Business Group, noted also that China does not have a proper trade structure in Africa. He urged the delegation to ensure that the Chinese trade mission which is being planned for Egypt is also cited in West Africa.

The aid and funds were some of the outcomes of the China-African summit of November 3-5, 2006. Chinapledged then to double aid to the continent from the 2006 levels to $10 billion by 2009. The country was also to allocate $5 billion to China-Africa Development Fund Co. Ltd, managed by China Development Bank, to finance investment projects in Africa.

Additionally, debts by some African countries owed the Asian nation were to be cancelled and market access for African goods to China improved. China was again to construct 30 hospitals and 100 rural schools in the continent.

The Chinese trade delegation undertook working visit of Abuja Monday when it met with ECOWAS ambassadors accredited to Nigeria, officials of the commission as well as representatives of Nigerian foreign affairs, African Business Roundtable and NEPAD Business Group. The delegation is leaving Abuja today forLagos where it will be received by the Nigerian private sector, including the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

After Nigeria, the delegation is conducting similar working visit in Cote d’Ivoire with a stopover in Accra andBurkina Faso and another stopover in Niamey.

“China is a force to reckon with in the global economy. The country’s $1.3 trillion foreign reserve, unmatched by any nation in the world is proof of the Chinese trade council’s efficiency”, he added.