China pledges stronger economic ties with Benin
- President Xi Jinping promised to support industrialisation and help the West African nation promote investment after meeting his counterpart Patrice Talon
- Trade between the two countries rose by a third last year, mainly due to increased exports of soybeans and cotton to China
China and Benin have agreed to elevate relations to a strategic partnership as Beijing promised to boost the West African nation’s infrastructure, trade and industry.
Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to support sectors such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and vocational and technical education through the establishment of an investment promotion mechanism between the two countries.
Xi said China will encourage more of its companies to invest in and start businesses in Benin, and help build infrastructure.
According to the Chinese loans to Africa database compiled by Boston University’s Global Development Policy Centre, China had advanced US$536 million to Benin between 2000 and 2020 – an amount that mostly went into the building of roads, communications and water infrastructure. In January, China agreed to cancel part of Benin’s debt.
The two presidents also agreed to expand trade to allow more Beninese products to enter the Chinese market.
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Trade between the two countries had an estimated value of US$1.95 billion last year, an increase of 33.7 per cent year-on-year, according to the Chinese embassy in France, which credited an increase in Chinese imports of cotton and soybeans for the increase.
Talon is expected to attend the Global Trade in Services Summit while in China, an event that Xi said would help Benin promote high-quality exports, as would the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo.
In addition, Xi said China will strengthen cooperation in education, training and medical care, as well as continuing to support the Luban workshop, a project named after the ancient Chinese craftsman Lu Ban to provide vocational skills training.
The two nations also agreed to strengthen counterterrorism security cooperation and exchanges on governance
Talon said Benin admires the Chinese style of governance and its cooperation with China “is mutually beneficial and win-win”, and will help promote industrialisation.
He said Benin had benefited a lot from China’s experience and “is willing to build a real strategic partnership with China, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries in various fields, and achieve national development and prosperity like China.”
Benjamin Barton, an associate professor at the University of Nottingham’s Malaysia campus, said China-Benin trade relations mirror many of China’s ties with other African states.
“China has provided fairly long-standing support for the Beninois agribusiness sector in the shape of technical assistance projects,” Barton said. However, he said productivity remains an issue which Benin could remedy by leaning on China’s expertise and experience in the fields of agricultural modernisation.
Barton said there is also interest in infrastructure investment with the lure of Belt and Road Initiative financing for Benin’s ports and roads, given its potential to act as the commercial waterway of choice for its landlocked neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger.
Dr John Calabrese, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, said Benin shares a border with Niger, where the recent coup and growing humanitarian crisis will be a cause of concern.
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“It is possible that the Beninese leadership will seek Beijing’s diplomatic support in helping resolve and/or shield it from the crisis,” Calabrese said.
He said the construction of an oil pipeline from Niger to Benin, backed by PetroChina, has been under way for quite some time. The situation in Niger could delay the completion of the pipeline, which is intended to link Niger’s vast Agadem oilfield to Benin’s port of Cotonou.
“It is interesting and important to note that China, unlike Western countries and ECOWAS [the Economic Community of West African States], has not imposed sanctions on Niger. PetroChina, the commercial arm of CNPC [the China National Petroleum Corporation], owns two-thirds of the country’s Agadem oilfield and has essentially built – and invested quite a lot – in Niger’s oil industry,” Calabrese said.
Aly-Khan Satchu, a sub-Saharan Africa geoeconomic analyst, said Benin is a pivotal state in the area and bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. “Benin might appear peripheral to some but China is playing a long game in Africa,” Satchu said.
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