TITLE:
China-Africa Economic Ties: Where Agenda 2063 and Belt and Road Initiative Converged and Diverged?
AUTHORS:
Umar Muhammad Gummi, Yang Rong, Asiya Mu’azu, Chen Ding
KEYWORDS:
BRI, Agenda 2063, Infrastructural Development, Industrialization, China-Africa Economic Ties
JOURNAL NAME:
Modern Economy,
Vol.11 No.5,
May
15,
2020
ABSTRACT: In recent years,
China-Africa economic cooperation uncovered diverse economic potentials
in many African countries. As part of its consolidation plans, the African
Union in 2013 unveiled “Agenda 2063: The Africa we want”. The same year, China
lunched its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to promote “Community of Common
Destiny for Mankind”. In this paper, we identify and highlight some points of
convergence and divergence between the two initiatives building upon
information from official documents issued by governments and the perception of
experts both in the private and public sectors of China and Africa. We argue that countries’
diversity, projects’
life span, institutional and governance inefficiencies and minimal role of
African countries in the BRI are
some of the key challenges.
However, based on the logical appraisal of the plans and their priorities, we argued that
China-Africa economic ties promote mutual benefits in the areas of
Industrialization, infrastructure and financial integration. Impliedly, we
suggest raising the status of Africa and its role in the BRI towards inclusive and sustainable
development of both parties.