China Urged to Ensure Aid Reaches Africa's Poorest
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Action Aid
BEIJING, 4 NOVEMBER 2006 - International development agency ActionAid calls on China to ensure that the benefits of its new assistance package, announced today in Beijing, will be felt by the poorest in the African continent. China announced today that it will double its assistance to Africa by 2009, provide 3 billion US dollars of preferential loans, set-up a China-Africa development fund that will reach 5 billion US dollars, and cancel debt in the form of interest-free government loans maturing at the end of 2005 owed by the poorest countries in Africa having diplomatic ties with China. China also pledged to increase from 190 to over 440 the number of items exported by these countries to China receiving zero-tariff treatment. "Africa has seen many assistance packages with benefits that never reached the poor. We want China to play a more deliberate and positive role in poverty alleviation in the African continent," said Brian Kagoro, ActionAid's Africa Regional Policy Coordinator, based in Kenya. "China's increasing trade and investments in Africa are of enormous concern and relevance for African civil society," said Kagoro. "We are already feeling the enormous impact, both positive and negative, of China's economic involvement in Africa, and we would like to convey to the Chinese government our views on these issues," he added. "As organizations working at grassroots level, African civil society can potentially offer a more realistic picture of how China's trade and investment affect the every day lives of poor Africans," said Zhang Lanying, ActionAid's Country Director in China. "It will be in China's interest to listen to and consider what our civil society colleagues in Africa have to say," she said. While overall, China's investments are more than welcome given the state of Africa's development, it is important that certain guarantees are in place to ensure that the public, rather than well-placed African elites, become the principal beneficiaries of such investments, said Huassaini Abdu, ActionAid's Africa Governance Coordinator, in Nigeria. "Certain oversight mechanisms need to be developed to assess not only the scramble for contracts but also the environmental impact and social acceptability of Chinese investments." "African civil society can contribute an important voice to such oversight mechanisms and we believe China is a more responsible actor than western economic interests that have previously despoiled Africa." "Developing economic cooperation is much more complex than it seems," said Kagoro. "And often there are consequences that are not put into view until it is too late." As a key member of African civil society, ActionAid is willing to bring forward a number of such consequences for discussion, and engage in dialogue with Chinese representatives," he added. **** For media interviews and further information please contact: Eric Gutierrez, International Policy Coordinator, Tel: +27 82 929 3349 Yuan Xin, China Communications Coordinator, Tel: + 86 10 65528329 ActionAid International works with 14 million poor and excluded people in 47 countries in Africa, Americas, Asia and Europe to support them in securing their rights and eradicating poverty. In China, ActionAid works in partnership with the local government in 14 counties and prefectures. In Africa, ActionAid works in 19 countries. ActionAid's head office is based in Johannesburg, South Africa. |
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