In a major policy shift, China is offering private sector participation to revitalise the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — covering various sectors including infrastructure and manufacturing in resource-rich Africa — due to rising debt faced by several countries in the continent. The initiative was launched at a recent meet organised in Beijing with participation of Chinese and African officials.

The meet last month brought together high-level stakeholders from China and Africa to discuss financing the next stage of Africa’s infrastructure development, ET has learnt. The China-Africa Special Dialogue was co-hosted by the African Union’s (AU) mission in Beijing and the ‘Development Reimagined International Consulting (DRIC)’ of China.
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The event co-hosted by AU’s representative to China Ambassador Rahamtalla Mohamed Osman and CEO of DRIC, Rui Wanjie, was attended by of more than 20 China-based African diplomats, representatives from African Development Bank, China Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Commerce, China International Development Cooperation Agency, Representatives of business chambers of commerce and other African stakeholders.

The event took off with a keynote address by Kenyan presidential hopeful, Raila Odinga. He spoke of the need for transition from bilateral to regional infrastructure development as part of the AU’s ‘Program for Infrastructure Development for Africa Initiative.’

Director-General Wu Peng of the Department of African Affairs in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who also addressed the dialogue reiterated that China has always accorded priority to infrastructure development in Africa, according to persons familiar with the proceedings of the meet.

He further emphasized for a speedy implementation of the outcomes of the 8th Ministerial Conference of the ‘Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC)’ held in Dakar, Senegal, last November.

The conference explored new models of infrastructure financing and promotion of China-Africa infrastructure development including private sector participation in BRI in Africa.

It may be recalled that in 2020 Wu Peng had expressed China’s willingness to encourage Chinese-funded enterprises to adopt models like Public Private Partnership (PPP) and “construction-operation-transfer” to invest in African industry for more localized production of African brands while attending a video meet on China-Africa ties.
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