ACCRA: The strong and growing Africa-China relations could be partly attributed to the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a Ghanaian expert has said.
\nPaul Frimpong, executive director of the Africa-China Center for Policy and Advisory, a think tank based in Ghana, told Xinhua in a written interview that Africa has been benefiting from the BRI to boost infrastructure development.
\nThe BRI is important for Africa because primary infrastructure bottlenecks in energy, water, sanitation, telecommunications, and transportation, and low access to electricity need to be removed for the continent to achieve its goals of boosting intra-African trade, Frimpong said.
\n\u201cAfrican infrastructure and economic growth may be unified and expedited due to China\u2019s participation in infrastructure projects on the continent. Multiple countries across the continent have benefited tremendously from these relations with China,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cBRI is already helping Africa to improve infrastructure to make it easier to conduct more intraregional and international trade, lower business costs, increase Africa\u2019s domestic and international competitiveness, and thereby experience economic success and sustained growth,\u201d Frimpong added.
\nFrimpong said the interconnectivity on the continent provided by Chinese-built projects aligns with Africa\u2019s ambitions for the next 50 years, including achieving inclusive social and economic growth by ending poverty, inequalities of income and opportunity, and creating decent jobs, among others.
\nBesides the economic cooperation, he said, China and African countries are connected by their shared desire to advance the South-South agenda.
\n\u201cCountries of the Global South broadly applaud China\u2019s resolve to forge partnerships based on equality and respect and its commitment to refraining from meddling in domestic issues,\u201d Frimpong added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ACCRA: The strong and growing Africa-China relations could be partly attributed to the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a Ghanaian expert has said. Paul Frimpong, executive director of the Africa-China Center for Policy and Advisory, a think tank based in Ghana, told Xinhua in a written interview that Africa has been benefiting from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,30],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[95],"class_list":{"0":"post-966","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bri-cpec","8":"category-latest"},"yoast_head":"\n