China's Hu pledges loans, aid to Africa

Beijing, Nov 5: China will offer 5 billion dollars in loans and credits, and double aid to Africa by 2009, President Hu Jintao said yesterday, seeking to bolster his country's influence in the under-developed but resource-rich continent.

With smiles and handshakes, Hu greeted visiting delegates from nearly 50 African nations one by one at the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square.

''Our meeting today will go down in history,'' Hu told the leaders in a speech after the welcoming ceremony. ''China is the largest developing country, and Africa is home to the largest number of developing countries.'' The weekend summit, which follows a dialogue and trade forum, underscores China's deepening ties with Africa, whose mineral and oil wealth it covets and whose countries form an important strategic bloc vote in world bodies.

But rights groups have expressed concern about ties to countries like Zimbabwe and Sudan.

Hu painted a picture of benign cooperation. ''The combined population of the two sides accounts for over a third of the world total. Without peace and development in China and Africa, there will be no global peace and development,'' he said.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed China's announcement.

''The secretary-general believes that, as Africans demonstrate renewed resolve to address the challenges confronting their continent, they can benefit greatly from the experience of their friends in China, who have had such success in sustaining growth and reducing poverty,'' said a statement issued by a UN spokesman.

Beijing has rolled out the red carpet for some 1,700 delegates and hundreds of journalists at the summit, billed as a warm-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Outlining his aid plans, Hu said China would provide 3 billion dollars in preferential loans and 2 billion dollars in preferential buyer's credits to Africa, and also double its 2006 assistance to Africa by 2009 in an effort to forge a new strategic partnership and strengthen cooperation in more areas and at a higher level.

China would also forgive all interest-free loans that matured at the end of 2005 owed by the most heavily indebted and underdeveloped African nations, Hu added, without elaborating.

MORE AID

Hu also pledged China would train 15,000 African professionals, send 100 senior agricultural experts to Africa, and set up 10 agricultural technology centres in Africa over the next three years.

-- build 30 hospitals and provide 300 million yuan (37.5 million dollars) in grants to help fight malaria.

-- dispatch 300 volunteers, build 100 rural schools, and increase the number of Chinese government scholarships to African students from 2,000 per year now to 4,000 per year by 2009.

-- increase to more than 440 from 190 the number of items which will not be taxed when imported to China from Africa. He did not provide details.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi thanked Hu for the aid and trade offer, and recalled China's support for Africa's fight for independence. ''Our main challenge now is not fighting colonialism, but fighting poverty and backwardness and achieving economic independence,'' he said. ''Africa needs the support of its friends to overcome this challenge.'' Rights groups say China's policy of non-interference in domestic affairs mean its engagement with Africa is bolstering governments in places like Sudan and Zimbabwe, with which Western countries have long since curbed trade ties.

China denies these accusations.

China's trade with Africa is expected to top $50 billion this year, and Premier Wen Jiabao, in a speech to a China-Africa business forum, called for the trading partners to expand this to $100 billion by 2010.

While the summit is largely about handshakes and banquets, analysts also expect it to be an opportunity to cement trade and investment deals that have been in the pipeline.

China and Liberia have signed a preliminary deal to allow China's second-largest state oil and gas firm, Sinopec Group, to explore for oil and gas. Ghana was close to clinching a $600 million deal with China's Sino Hydro Corporation to build at 400 megawatt hydroelectric dam in the north.

And Chinese consortium recently signed a $3 billion iron ore deal in Gabon, which includes extending a railway and building a bulk commodities and container port.

REUTERS

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