A New Page between Beijing and Khartoum

Sudanhorizon – Nazik Shammam

Sudan’s participation in the China-Africa Cooperation Forum (September 4-6) opens the door wide to the extended China -Sudan relations that fluctuate between common economic interests and investment concerns and problems and China’s positions towards the latter. China is to be commended for being one of the first countries to extend its hand to Sudan and help it extract oil in the nineties of the last century through bilateral agreements between the two governments and other bilateral cooperation agreements signed by the two sides in the past years.

China is considered as one of the largest investors in Sudan, as 130 Chinese companies operate in infrastructure sectors such as yransportation, electricity, and production such as agriculture, and they have a market share of more than 50 percent in contracted works.

According to official statistics, the volume of trade exchange between Khartoum and Beijing reached 11 billion dollars before the secession of the south.

The China-Africa Cooperation Forum was established in 2000 and the China-Africa Development Fund in 2006. The economic relations between China and Africa have deepened significantly. Over the past two decades.

This year’s China-Africa Cooperation Forum is exploring opportunities and areas for joint cooperation between African countries and China. The forum’s agenda will include four high-level meetings on state governance, agricultural industrialization, modernization, peace, and security, as well as high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. The summit agenda includes the 8th Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs. The summit will also adopt two final documents, one a declaration and the other an action plan, to build broad consensus between the two sides and chart a course for implementing high-quality China-Africa cooperation in the next three years.

Sudan is participating in the forum with a high-level delegation headed by the Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan according to the media of the Sudanese Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, the first session of the 9th Ministerial Conference of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum was held in Beijing on Tuesday, and the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Jibril Ibrahim and Acting Foreign Minister Hussein Awad Ali are among the African and Chinese finance and foreign ministers at the ministerial conference concerned with preparing for the work of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum summit, which will be held in Beijing on September 6.

According to the Chinese Xinhua News Agency, Sudan expects Chinese companies to return to invest in the country conduct business in a timely manner and actively participate in the country’s post-war reconstruction.
Sudanese Minister of Oil and Energy, Muhi El-Din El-Naeem Saeed, revealed in an interview with the New China News Agency published today that his country intends to establish transmission lines between states, especially in the Darfur region, to expand the coverage of the national electricity grid.

Al-Naeem said that “the 2024 China-Africa Cooperation Forum (FOCAC) summit constitutes an important platform for China and Africa to implement practical and effective cooperation and build a high-level community with a shared destiny.”

He explained that the China-Africa Cooperation Summit is expected to continue to expand bilateral investment and trade in traditional sectors, including infrastructure and agriculture.

The Sudanese minister stressed his country’s desire to build a partnership with China in the fields of oil and electricity.

The economic expert, Dr. Mohamed Al-Nayer said that China is very interested in Africa and considers the African continent to be one of the most important continents that have huge natural resources.

He said, “China believes that Sudan is the most prominent country on this continent, and China is not the only one that sees this.” Al-Nayer continued in his conversation with Sudanhorizon that there is a conflict extending between China and Russia on the one hand, which is the BRICS bloc, which is a rising economic power. On the other hand, there is the West represented by America and Europe.

But Al-Nayer believes that what confirms the success of the Chinese model in Africa is that it does not interfere in the internal affairs of countries. China, up until this moment, according to him, has not announced any interference in the internal affairs of any country, but rather always concludes trade agreements based on common interests without interfering in internal affairs. This is what distinguishes China from others and what made it enter Africa through investments, trade exchange, and joint cooperation.

He revealed that China has a huge project that it will not give up, which is the Silk Road project, and it wants to implement this project that will change the course of the volume of trade worldwide.
He pointed out that despite the circumstances that Sudan is going through, such as wars and others, there will be a great deal of interest in Sudan in this forum, and Al-Nayer expected the signing of investment agreements in safe states, especially since China’s intentions now are not only oil, but there are other areas including minerals and agricultural production, and these areas are now available in several stable states.

He stressed that there will be no obstacles in concluding investment agreements, whether it is reviving investment in the oil sector again, or the mining sector, agriculture, or other areas, especially since Sudan is a major axis in the silk sector and will receive great attention in this direction.

Regarding the previous debts owed to China by the Sudanese government, Al-Nayer believes that this debt will not be a stumbling block or an obstacle for China, as China knows how to reschedule these debts with Sudan in addition to the possibility of entering into new investments that can compensate for these debts in a programmed manner. If any investments are made in the field of oil or minerals based on the value of production, Sudan can pay the debts from its share.

Al-Nayer expected the return of Chinese investments strongly to Sudan due to its advantages, resources, and strategic location linking Arab countries and the African continent, in addition to its presence on the Red Sea coast, which confirms the importance of Sudan geographically and strategically.

In turn, the journalist specializing in Chinese affairs, Muhammad Abdul Aziz, confirmed that economic relations between China and Africa have witnessed rapid development in recent years, and Abdul Aziz explained China’s endeavor to deepen economic integration with African countries through the Belt and Road Initiative. In his interview with Sudanhorizon, he indicated that this initiative led to an increase in Chinese investments in African infrastructure, strengthening inter-trade, and expanding cooperation in the fields of energy and mining. The volume of bilateral trade last year exceeded $282 billion.

He pointed out that the rapid growth in bilateral trade and economic integration between China and Africa has become a tangible reality.”

Abdelaziz said that Sudan’s participation in the China-Africa Cooperation Forum aims to strengthen relations between the two countries in light of the difficult circumstances that Sudan is going through, in addition to being a strategic maneuver and a threat to shift to the Chinese and Russian camp in light of the lack of necessary support to end the war.

He continued “Sudan is looking forward to Chinese economic support and concluding financing agreements,

However, he revealed difficulties related to China’s position on Sudan’s debts and the lack of progress in this file since the previous Sudanese government, especially after the expiration of oil contracts and their non-renewal,

He pointed out that the second aspect relates to the complexities of the conflict, especially concerning Chinese oil investments, in addition to technical difficulties related to increasing production and expanding oil discoveries.

However, Abdelaziz agrees with Al-Nayer that gold is Sudan’s winning card in this regard.