China to carry out eight major initiatives with African countries

China will carry out eight major initiatives with African countries in the coming three years, guided by a closer China-Africa community of shared destiny in the new era, said Chinese President Xi Jinping in a keynote speech on Monday.

President Xi highlighted the country's action plan on promoting closer cooperation with African countries in the fields of industry, investment, trade, infrastructure, health, culture, environmental protection and security, in his speech at the opening ceremony of the opening ceremony of the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Beijing. 

China will establish the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in China. The country fully supports the goal of basically achieving food security before 2030 as proposed by African countries, and will provide 1 billion yuan (146.3 million US dollars) in emergency humanitarian aid to disaster-affected African countries. 

China will further promote infrastructure construction in Africa, enhancing cooperation in the fields of energy, transportation and telecommunications. 

China will implement 50 projects on trade facilitation with African countries and establish 50 aid projects on green development and environmental protection.

In addition, China proposed actions to support Africa's social development, including providing social and vocational training for African youth, establishing China-Africa innovation cooperation centers and enhancing mutual exchange projects. China will also upgrade 50 medical and healthcare assistance projects in Africa.

Meanwhile, China plans to establish a China-Africa fund on peace and security cooperation as a way of jointly carrying out peacekeeping and maintaining stability.

In order to promote the smooth implementation of the eight initiatives, China will provide 60 billion US dollars' worth of financial support to Africa through government aid, financing and investment by financial institutions and enterprises.

The 60 billion US dollars will include 15 billion US dollars' worth of aid, interest-free loans and concessional loans, a credit line worth 20 billion US dollars, a 10-billion-US dollar special fund for China-Africa development, and a 5-billion-US dollar special fund for imports from Africa. Chinese companies will be encouraged to invest no less than 10 billion US dollars in Africa in the next three years. 

Meanwhile, Africa's least developed countries, heavily indebted countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing countries with diplomatic relations with China will be exempted from outstanding intergovernmental interest-free loan debts from the end of 2018.