China is not going to step back from the path of investment it has been following in Africa. This was stated by Jiang Jianqing, the President of China’s ICBC Bank at the World Economic Forum on Africa that took place in Cape Town last week. China’s investment into Africa will benefit both sides at a time when globalization is widening the economic horizons of all the countries, especially China which is pursuing investment opportunities all over the world.

Jiang Jianqing is co-chairing the 19th WEF meet that is discussing the issue of “Implications of Global Economic Crisis For Africa”. In this context, the President felt that the global financial system needed to be monitored diligently. This would avert crisis like the present one in the future. According to him, the global capital markets did not recognize national boundaries. The ICBC Bank has the distinction of being the world’s largest bank in terms of assets, and has also bought a 20% stake in South Africa’s largest bank, The Standard Bank. The two banks have been scouring the length and breadth of the African continent looking for appropriate investment opportunities. The two banks have already jointly short-listed at least 60 projects in Africa for making investments. Their largest combined investment is close to the signing stage, namely the $800 million funding of the Botswana power station. This would be a twenty-year commitment. Others include mining projects and those connected infrastructure development in many African countries. The alliance is of strategic importance for both countries since the ICBC is flush with funds and Africa has asset bases whose value is presently at their lowest, providing the golden opportunity to the bank to acquire a stake in them. Both sides stand to gain in the process, since ICBC Bank also cannot remain unaffected by the crisis and has had to scale back its growth figures. It is now looking for ways to make up and thereby show improved growth prospects in 2010.

The World Economic Forum on Africa and its focus on the financial sector has been an eye opener for the rest of the world as well. Optimism about the coming year helped the meet end on a positive note.

Source : China Africa