ADDIS ABABA- African Union (AU) will open a permanent mission in Beijing that intent to strengthen ties with the continent’s biggest trading partner, according to East African News.
Heads of states and government gathered in Addis Ababa last weekend endorsed a proposal by the Council of Ministers, the body of foreign ministers from member states which had asked for the establishment of a permanent mission that engage with China.
The AU Permanent mission in Beijing will have at least 10 staffers, including the permanent representative and could cost the continental body 1,277,164 USD worth of salaries a year to run.
The mission will have various senior officials including policy officers in charge of economic and commercial cooperation, technical cooperation, technology, science and education, culture, tourism and engagement of the Diaspora.
However, AU did not specify when the mission will open but suggested that the appointment of officials will be staggered.
The creation of this mission now means the continental bloc will have permanent missions to the U.S. in Washington, UN in New York, World Trade Organization in Geneva, European Union in Brussels, to the Southern Africa Development Cooperation (SADC) in Lilongwe and another mission to the League of Arab States in Cairo.
The creation of the mission to China may have been forthcoming for years. The Chinese, like most global powers often send diplomats to the AU headquarters.
And the AU itself is a full member of the focus on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), a triannual forum between the continent and Beijing since 2011.
Despite the pandemic and its restrictions, Beijing’s trade with Africa still grew by a third to more than 254 billion USD, exporting medical protective equipment and other essential goods to Africa at the height of the pandemic.
Africa’s biggest exporters to China are South Africa, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo-Brazzaville and Zambia, whose sales reached about 70 billion USD, according to the agency.
Beijing itself has said it is ready to work with African countries to improve on exports. Its investments in Africa have been growing steadily and reached 44 billion USD in 2020 in foreign direct investments to Africa, according to China’s foreign direct investment.
However, China has also loaned African countries huge amounts of money for infrastructure development.
By end of 2020, China had loaned about 150 billion USD since 2003 making it the biggest bilateral creditor on the continent.
COMPILED BY MISGANAW ASNAKE
THE ETHIOPIAN FRIDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2022
