China expands its relations with Africa at the BRICS summit

Within the framework of the parallel events that will conclude the fifteenth BRICS summit, the President will chair with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa the dialogue between Beijing and Africa, the continent of which China is its largest trading partner.

Indeed, the maximum meeting of the group, which also consists of Brazil, Russia and India, focuses on engagement with African countries, in order to promote South-South cooperation, and to promote a new global governance and a different global financial architecture.

In this regard, the bloc is discussing expanding membership of the BRICS-backed New Development Bank, which also hopes to forge partnerships in the financial sector with more African countries.

Another major topic at this year’s summit and expected to be taken up during the round table is the development of the African Continental Free Trade Area.

As pointed out by Wamkele Menye, Secretary General of this mechanism, Africa has 42 currencies and when trading across regions and borders you have to buy a third currency.

“This is a major constraint, we have introduced digital technology and a pan-African payment and settlement system to ensure that anyone who trades in Africa can now trade in the local currency,” Minni told China’s CCTV.

Cross-border transactions have been a recurring theme of the summit since its inception, with leaders calling for greater support for local currencies and the consequent elimination of the dollar in these exchanges.

In the case of China, trade with Africa recorded continuous growth in the first seven months of the year, and the figure reached $158,36 million between January and July.

Beijing remains Africa’s largest trading partner in the past decade, with bilateral trade up 14.8 percent year-on-year in 2022.

Mainland China is its largest export destination with agricultural products, crude oil, mineral ore, and mineral sands.

Hence the importance of the two sides finding a form of non-dollar transactions, especially in light of the increasing economic and trade war waged by the United States against the Asian giant.

The day before, Xi Jinping emphasized during his speech at the summit that BRICS should set an example of inclusiveness, expansion, and integration of other developing countries.

He also called for raising the common voice against those who want to create exclusive groups and maintain the Cold War mentality.

jf/idm