China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, is on a five-nation tour of Africa.
The foreign minister made a stop in Zimbabwe and Burundi with Djibouti, Egypt and Djibouti included on his itinerary.
China has a strong presence in Zimbabwe with investments that span from energy to agriculture, mining and trade in wildlife but with Zimbabwe’s economy in dire straits, analysts say that Wang will, behind closed doors, urge Zimbabwe to improve the country’s economic performance and honour its debt repayments to China.
China has also increasingly broadened its ties to include the construction of a new parliament building estimated to cost more than $100 million. It also provides humanitarian assistance such as donations of food and technical assistance during natural disasters.
BURUNDI-CHINA
Still on China’s five- nation Africa tour,
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister, Wang Yi has met with Burundian Foreign Minister, Ezechiel Nibigira.
According to Wang, China is willing to carry out mutually beneficial cooperation with Burundi under the framework of building a joint Belt and Road and implementing the eight major initiatives proposed at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), with a focus on infrastructure construction and agriculture.