Chinese Propaganda Floats the Idea of Integrating the Belt & Road Initiative With the AfCFTA

The Communist Party-controlled China Daily newspaper published an interesting article today written by Lewis Ndichu, a research and policy analyst at the Kenya-based think tank Africa Policy Institute, that proposes how China’s Belt and Road Initiative can be integrated into the new African Continental Free Trade Agreement.

Economically speaking, there’s a lot of synergy between these two initiatives. After all, China is building billions of dollars of transportation and manufacturing infrastructure that will be vital to the AfCTA’s success. The AfCFTA’s move towards efficient, tariff-free movement of goods across African borders will also make it easier to ship them out to China and other points along the BRI.

But fusing these two agendas together politically could be problematic, both for some African countries and certainly for China’s rivals in the U.S. and Europe. The concern is that economically vulnerable states would become even more dependent on China, which could make them liable to conceding certain kinds of sovereignty and avoiding positions that run counter to China’s core interests.

Lewis Ndichu’s 3 Recommendations on How to Integrate BRI & AfCFTA

  • FIND THE POINTS OF COLLABORATION: “Identify and promote projects within the AfCFTA that can be implemented through the BRI. This strategy could be a model for “win-win” cooperation since it would not only fast-track Africa’s priority projects but also support the achievement of the BRI’s infrastructure connectivity goal.”
  • LEVERAGE CROSS-BORDER INFRASTRUCTURE FOR TRADE: “Africa must promote projects linking national and rural networks with economic corridors that facilitate international imports and exports. This will ensure that the impact of cross-border infrastructure is not restricted to international trade, but also enhances regional economies and intra-Africa trade.”
  • EXPEND POLITICAL CAPITAL: “Political will at the highest level of leadership is crucial for the success of cross-border development initiatives. This will enable the mobilization of vital stakeholders and partners, particularly the African Union Commission; the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and Regional Economic Communities.”

Read the full column on the China Daily website.

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The post Chinese Propaganda Floats the Idea of Integrating the Belt & Road Initiative With the AfCFTA appeared first on The China Africa Project.



source https://chinaafricaproject.com/2020/09/24/chinese-propaganda-floats-the-idea-of-integrating-the-belt-road-initiative-with-the-afcfta/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chinese-propaganda-floats-the-idea-of-integrating-the-belt-road-initiative-with-the-afcfta

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