Category: Development
China is Transforming the Skyline of Ethiopia’s Capital Addis Ababa
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed inaugurated the new Chinese-built Commercial Bank of Ethiopia tower on Sunday that at just under 210 meters high is now the tallest building in East Africa. https://twitter.com/sharmarke580/status/1492951693407006724 ...
Phasing Down Coal in the Global South
By Rishikesh Ram Bhandary and Cecilia Han Springer Although Chinese President Xi Jinping announced last year that China will no longer build new coal-fired power plants overseas, the Boston University Global Development Policy (GDP) Center’s China’s Global Power (CGP) Database shows 60 coal ...
Like It Or Not, the EU’s New Infrastructure Push in Africa is Being Framed as a Challenge to China
European Union President Ursula von der Leyen seemingly went out of her way to avoid saying the C-word during her brief two-day trip to Africa last week that included stops in Morocco and Senegal. The C-word, of course, is China. Beijing's ...
European MP: We’ve Just Been “Doing the Donor Thing” in Africa and Now “Have to be Smart Like the Chinese”
Although China will likely not be on the official agenda at the upcoming European Union-Africa summit that will take place on Thursday and Friday in Brussels, China's role on the continent and how Europe can/should compete with Beijing will be on everyone's minds.
Africa’s Shifting Infrastructure Landscape
In the current heated discussion about the fluctuations and debt implications of Chinese infrastructure funding to Africa, one sometimes forgets exactly how transformative Chinese financing has been on the continent. It’s no secret that over the last fifteen years or so China has been the main funder ...
Report: China Financed More Infrastructure in Africa Than All of the World’s Major Donors… Combined
It's been obvious in recent years that China has provided far more financing for African infrastructure development than any other country or multilateral development finance institution (DFI). Now, however, for the first time, we know how much more... and it's a lot.
China May No Longer Finance Large-Scale Railways in Africa, But It’s Still a Big Player in the Industry
China is not financing the construction of Tanzania's new Standard Gauge Railway line but it is nonetheless playing a big role in its development. On Tuesday, Tanzania Railway Corporation officials signed a $127.2 million deal with the Chinese rail car manufacturing giant CRRC International for ...
Another African EV Start-Up Using Chinese Technology Gets Seed Funding
Kenya-based EV start-up BasiGo closed a $4.3 million seed funding round to assemble and sell electric-powered buses. The company plans to supply more than 1,000 mass transit electric buses to operators throughout Kenya over the next five years. Those buses, incidentally, will all be supplied ...
The U.S. and Europe May No Longer Want Confucius Institutes, But That is Not the Case in Africa
The Chinese language and cultural centers known as Confucius Institutes long fell out of favor in the United States and Europe, where critics accused the Chinese government-backed initiative of being a vector for propaganda. That is not the ...
Building the Infrastructure African Residents Deserve
Over a recent holiday season, I made a trip to the western region of Sichuan province in China. It is at the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau and the Hengduan Mountains, with a ground elevation of 4,000-4,500 meters, slightly above Kilimanjaro’s Shira Mountains (3800 meters). That ...
With An Eye on China, EU Chief Says Europe is Africa’s “Most Reliable Partner”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (photo) will arrive in Dakar on Wednesday for a quick trip before next week's Europe-Africa summit. One of the key highlights of her visit will be to unveil some of the first projects selected as part of the new Global Gateway ...
Lithium Follows Cobalt’s Lead With New Record Production Output
The surging demand for electric vehicles in China, the U.S., and Europe is powering new demand for lithium, a key ingredient used to make EV batteries. Global mined lithium production hit a record high in 2021 of 100,000 tonnes (excluding the ...