Chinese and African financial institutions are expected to play a pivotal role in investment promotion, industrial cooperation and the internationalization of Renminbi, deputy head of Africa's supranational multilateral financial institution said.
"Chinese financial institutions and African financial institutions will have to work together to bring the investors in and export the products back to China," said George Elombi, Executive Vice President of the African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank), at a forum titled "Building Bridges: Collaboration for Growth between China and African Multilateral Financial Institution" held in Beijing on Saturday.
During the 2024 Summit of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) that concluded on Friday, the Chinese government unveiled a series of practical cooperation initiatives that garnered significant attention from African financial leaders.
They expressed hope that these efforts would create bridges for bilateral collaboration and seize new development opportunities.
Attendees at the Saturday forum emphasized that China's proactive measures to expand market access would attract Chinese businesses and enterprises from other countries to invest and establish manufacturing facilities in Africa, and they will export products made locally back to China. In that case, the Chinese market will become a significant opportunity for Africa.
The Afreximbank, a pan-African supranational multilateral financial institution set up in 1993, has maintained a strong partnership with Chinese financial entities over the years.
Last year, the China Development Bank and Afreximbank signed an agreement for a special loan program worth 2.8 billion yuan to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Africa.
China will work with Africa, in the next three years, to implement ten partnership initiatives for joining hands to advance modernization of China and Africa, which includes industrial chain cooperation.
Elombi said that both Chinese and African multilateral financial institutions could play a crucial role in implementing these plans.
"All the leaders referred to small and medium sized enterprises because of their capacity to generate work and create tax base. The rule of the African multilateralism then becomes extremely important. And their capacity to participate jointly with a Chinese counterpart also becomes extremely significant," Elombi said.
Participants of the Saturday forum also discussed the increasing significance of the Chinese currency Renminbi in the global monetary system, proposing that African multilateral financial institutions should explore opportunities like issuing Panda bonds to enhance operational flexibility.
Financial institutions expressed a desire to strengthen cooperation with China in areas of Renminbi payment and settlement systems.
Africa expects new financial cooperation opportunities with China: banking chief
