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China Unveils $42 Billion Investment Plan for Africa.


Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China Li Keqiang (L) and Ethiopia Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn attend a treaty signing ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Addis Ababa, May 4, 2014.(File Photo)
Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China Li Keqiang (L) and Ethiopia Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn attend a treaty signing ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Addis Ababa, May 4, 2014.(File Photo)
The three-day World Economic Forum in Abuja, Nigeria, which has been overshadowed by the kidnapping of more than 200 girls by Islamic extremist group, Boko Haram, ended Friday with the major highlight being China unveiling a $42 billion investment plan for Africa.

Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang said the funds would be channeled to economic development on the continent.

China, he said, is ready to provide financing, technical and human resource support to the region's economies while also increasing its investment financing to about $10 billion and extending credit lines to African countries to a total of $30 billion.

Zimbabwe is set to benefit from the China-Africa trans-regional infrastructural cooperation which is set to develop a high speed rail network connecting all African capitals.

Zimbabwe, which did not send a government delegation to the forum, has close ties with China.

But relations have been weakening with President Robert Mugabe and his ministers publicly denouncing Chinese investment in the country as not benefitting the country that much.
Businessman Nigel Chanakira, also chairman of the Zimbabwe Investment Authority, who attended the forum said the kidnapping of the girls was a cause for concern at the forum.
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