Southern Africa a gold-mine for Chinese investors
- By Abduel Elinaza
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E-mail China.org.cn, September 1, 2014
Traditionally, Africa's southeast has enjoyed good diplomatic relations and non-interference policy with China—Zhongguo. The policy pushes the middle kingdom to almost on top five bilateral trade positions and a top donor country with SADC countries. A position was not experienced in the last decade.
Also China procures copper, cobalt, cadmium, ferrochrome, platinum, coltan, diamonds, and gold largely for industrial purposes from SADC states namely DRC, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
In 2011, the largest African exporters to China were South Africa and Angola, followed by Mauritania, Zambia, and Sudan and South Sudan (non-SADC members.)
China, a world's largest importer of iron ore, has also been diversifying its purchases away from traditional suppliers such as Australia and South Africa, to previously globally unimportant producers in SADC region—Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia.
China's teach-to-fish concept also pays up. China grows cassava, maize, and sorghum in such place as Zimbabwe and Madagascar and ships the produces to China.
Nevertheless, despite all this happening, experts say, Chinese private investors have only benefited to a small extent from the SADC's resources.
The public-private-partnership projects may help late-coming Chinese investors into the SADC market, thus improving trade relations, and helping to raise efficiency and improve infrastructure.
The Dar es Salaam envoy to Beijing, Mr Abdulrahaman Shimbo, says that in Tanzania and SADC as whole, investment potentials are enormous raging from agriculture, energy, information technology, infrastructures and minerals.
"The market for the products is ready available, locally, regionally and internationally," Mr Shimbo says.
The write is a journalist at Daily News, Tanzania.
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