President of Togo: “The Path to Growth Has No End”
{Togo First}–Ahead of the upcoming China-Africa Cooperation Summit-(FOCAC) in Beijing, Togo’s President, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, gave an interview to Chinese TV CGTN on August 23.
During the interview, the leader praised relations between his country and China over the past 40 years. He declared also that the coming summit will further improve these relations.
Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe, optimistically proclaimed, “The path to growth has no end.” President Gnassingbe’s interview, and the collaboration between Togo and China in the One Belt-One Road Initiative, encapsulates in one African country, the optimism that is radiating through each and all 54 countries in Africa, in the realization that the age of colonialism is ending and the era of development is underway.
As reported by {Togofirst.com}, CGTN asked, “Which types of China companies do you wish to attract to Togo?”. President Gnassingbe responded, “[Chinese] investments have helped Togo grow and advance in its development. However, you know that the path to growth has no end. There is no limitation to our progress, so far. We have achieved some progress, but more can be done…. Regarding our preferred sectors for new investments, I would obviously say agricutlure, since it is the most important for our economy. Our agricultural sector needs to be modernized and industrialized, transformed into an agro-industry. I would say we need Chinese firms to invest in that sector.”
Later in the interview, the Togolese President added, “While some economic powers try to do things on their own, the foundation of the relationship between China and Africa lies in dialogue, focusing on a win-win cooperation. Both sides win…. In regards to economy, I believe we will have the opportunity to discuss a major project, which I praise, the ‘One Belt, One Road’ project. We will discuss how Africa can contribute to this ambitious, generous and revolutionary project….[I]t is quite rare to see a country, even a huge one such as China which is currently the world’s second leading economic power, launch such a major project that would involve almost every continent.”
He added that he recently read President Xi Jinping’s book on ways to fight poverty.
President Faure Gnassingbe has a stuffed schedule in China from Sept. 2 through 10. He will attend the FOCAC forum from Sept. 3-4. He will attend Sept. 5 hearings with Chinese financial and state institutions, including China Merchant Group, the Eximbank of China (which is very active in Togo), the China Development Bank, as well as the managing director of the BRICS bank. He will meet with Xi Jinping the following day, to be followed by a trip to Zhiejiand, China’s fourth largest economic province, where discussions will be held on implementation of Togo’s National Development Plan.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi Previews Upcoming FOCAC Summit–‘A New Phase of China-Africa Development’
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi outlined the format and the program for the upcoming Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit in Beijing, which will be held on September 3-4.
The Summit, which Wang Yi characterized as a “reunion of the China-Africa family” will have four major foci:
1) it will renew the call for a shared future for China and Africa bound by their common interests;
2) it will initiate a new phase of China-Africa development, enhancing the African countries’ participation in the Belt and Road Initiative, and focusing on upgrading cooperation on trade and infrastructure and people-to-people relations;
3) it will introduce pathways to a higher level of cooperation over the coming three years, and there will be the signing of a number of cooperation agreements with some of the countries, focusing on areas critical for Africa;
4) it will enhance the story of China-African cooperation historically with new measures to be introduced, which are people-centered. Wang Yi also said that there would be a great focus on young people in order to carry the relationship further down the road.
The morning of the first day will consist of an opening dialogue between participants, focusing on issues of practical cooperation, increasing synergy and improving trade ties. President Xi and the other African leaders will participate in this discussion, as well as business leaders and other delegates. In the afternoon, there will be the opening ceremony where President Xi will give a keynote speech. This will be followed by more formal discussion will take place, focusing on industrial cooperation, the development of trade, health issues, peace and security issues. The discussion will be tailored to the needs of the African countries. The co-chairs of this meeting will be President Xi, and Cyril Ramaphosa, South African President and the chairman of the African National Congress. In the evening there will be a grand banquet and entertainment program for the delegates.
On September 4 there will a round-table discussion, with the morning session chaired by President Ramaphosa and the afternoon by President Xi. They will discuss the three-year plan moving toward the year 2021. On the sidelines, there will be bilateral meetings with President Xi and the African leaders. Xi’s wife, Peng Liyuan, will also be chairing a forum on AIDS.
China at Center of Zimbabwe’s Electricity and Total Development
Zimbabwe will require 11,000 megawatts of electricity to achieve its vision of becoming a middle-income country according to its 2030 Plan, stated Ministry of Energy Director of Policy and Planning Benson Munyaradzi. Munyaradzi stated, in Xinhua’s paraphrase Aug. 25, that “the huge demand for power presents vast opportunities for China to further invest in Zimbabwe’s energy sector.” He spoke at a two-day international conference on China’s Belt and Road Initiative organized by the University of Zimbabwe in conjunction with the Confucius Institute. The ideas and plans worked out at the conference will, undoubtedly, flow into the Sept. 3-4 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation conference to be held in Beijing, at which most of Africa’s 54 countries will participate, as well as the head of the African Union Commission.
Zimbabwe, a landlocked country of 16 million people in southern Africa currently has 2,000 MW of installed generating capacity. So to get to the 11,000 MW target, would require building 9,000 MW of capacity, which is a tall order, but which China, in collaboration with Zimbabwe, has shown it can meet. In March, Sinohydro, the Chinese state-owned hydro-power engineering and construction company completed the 300 MW Kariba South Hydro Power expansion project, and in June, Sinohyrdo began the expansion by a further 670 MW of the coal-fired Hwange Power station.
But as in many African countries, the power-generation is one aspect of the capital goods transfer and infrastructure building that China is engaged in to help Zimbabwe to leap forward. China has pledged to set up a “cutting-edge” urological-surgical center in Zimbabwe, and in an agreement signed in July 2017, Beijing pledged to send medical experts, supply medical equipment, and train Zimbabwean doctors in China. China also built a supercomputer center at the University of Zimbabwe, making it the fifth African country to host a supercomputer.
China will also create the 1,700 km Trans-Zambezi Railway, connecting Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique on the Zambezi River, from Binga, Zimbabwe to Nampula near the Mozambique coast. The first phase of this project consists of a 400 km railway between Shamva, Zimbabwe and Moatize, Mozambique.
At the Aug. 24-25 conference at the University of Zimbabwe, University Dean Charity Manyeruke underscored that the BRI offers an exciting opportunity for Africa “to leapfrog its economic development. Zimbabwe is under sanctions from the West, and China stands as a very important strategic partner.”
