On September 5, 2024, as a member of the CPCC Media Tour, I got the opportunity to have a bird’s eye view of the opening ceremony and addresses for the 2024 FOCAC summit in Beijing.
The session’s highlight was the address by China’s President H.E. Xi Jinping under the theme ‘Joining Hands to Advance Modernization and Build a Community with a Shared Future’. He outlined ten partnership actions to continue to deepen China-Africa cooperation and further strengthen China’s global influence and pledged an associated investment of RMB360 billion over three years, comprised of RMB210 billion line of credit, RMB80 billion of various forms of assistance, and at least RMB70 billion yuan of investment in Africa by Chinese companies. Among the ten partnership actions outlined, several drew my attention as I contemplated prospects for an enhanced relationship between Antigua and Barbuda and China.
The first partnership action outlined by President Xi centered on improving the governance capacity of African States. He proposed to use existing leadership academies in African nations as training centers, along with inviting up to 1,000 members of African political parties to undergo training in China. The objective is to improve the quality of service delivery by government employees and “to deepen exchanges of experience in party and state governance.”
We bemoan the need for serious improvement in the quality of service delivery in our public service and, there is an urgent need to overhaul the existing public service training unit. It would be a definite productivity boost if we can tap into the pool of Chinese resources. Naturally, our UWI FIC must play an important role in any public sector empowerment plan but, input from China with active lessons in public service transformation and consistent delivery of quality of service would be a valued game changer.
The second partnership actionproposed increased market access. Specifically, President Xi announced that all LDCs having diplomatic relations with China, including 33 countries in Africa, will benefit from zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent tariff lines and stronger e-commerce relations. China intends to foster industry cooperation growth clustersand launch an “African SMEs empowerment program”, as the third Partnership Action.African countries are to benefit from “a digital technology cooperation center which include twenty (20) digital demonstration projects “to embrace together the latest round of technological revolution and industrial transformation.”
With the wide variety of commodities on shelves in China, notwithstanding that they can cater fully to themselves, I ponder the opportunity for us to work to access the Chinese market with select products, perhaps, to reap economies of scale in the cost of shipping, we can approach as a collective of OECS member states with existing relationships with China. I foresee opportunities to offer better and institutionalized support for cottage and niche sectors and significant upgrades in the use of technology for enterprises to include a cost-efficient, broader coverage technology-based payment system, a stronger e-commerce platform. Our twin goal of food security and the ability for import substitution, while forging stronger linkages between domestic agriculture and tourism could benefit from access to resources similar to those intended for the African agriculture sector and the SMEs.
Finally, I noted China’s emphasis on infrastucture development support the central focus of their highly touted Belt and Road projects and the partnership action for development cooperation focused on “small and beautiful livelihood projects”. Comparatively speaking a central sewage system and the modernsation of utility infrastructure in our city of St. John’s could be ideal so seek China’s support. Our city is aged and in desperate need of modern infrastructure. We are limited in our capacity to undertake the well-needed transformation.
The challenge remains how does a small island developing nation with limited resources chasing never-ending developmental needs manage our relationship with a long-standing development partner to ensure that the benefits to be derived are in our best interest? Are there other international partners willing to provide the level of support we have received from our relationship with China to date? And most importantly, how do we ensure maximum benefits from the initiatives’ past, and in the future to position our economy to be efficient, and to enhance productivity, profitability, and economic growth!
A definite work in progress, bilateral and regional opportunities abound, and many takeaways from China’s relationship with African Nations. It will be interesting to see the outcomes of the 4th China-Caribbean Economic & Trade Cooperation Forum from September 12, 2024 in Hainan Province, China.
Petra Williams, executive producer of petrathespectator.com, an online platform that focuses on features about Antigua and Barbuda, and the print magazine The Spectator is currently on a 4-month media tour of China complements the CIPCC. She shares her China experiences via her various social media platforms and produces a series of written perspectives to be shared via this media platform.
