Xi reiterates China’s commitment to wildlife protection

Mugabe, 91, personally welcomed Xi at Harare International Airport while thousands of visitors thronged the airfield to get a glimpse of the Chinese president.

President Xi Jinping’s five-day trip to Africa comes as the continent suffers more than anywhere else from China’s slowing economic growth and an associated rout in the value of the region’s commodities exports.

A Nov 20 attack on the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali which left three China Railway executives dead also showed that “China’s vast business interests in Africa face an uncertain future if security issues are not tackled”, said Mr Shu Yunguo, director of the Centre for African Studies at Shanghai Normal University.

Although there were no figures announced for Tuesday’s deals, China and Zimbabwe have signed investment agreements for fibre internet roll-out, power generation and construction of a pharmaceuticals warehouse as well as the building of a new parliament building.

President Xi will pay a state visit to Zimbabwe Dec. 1 – 2 on his way to South Africa for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit, making it the fourth African country he has visited since assuming office.

The Chinese President Xi Jinping has signed 10 investment deals with Zimbabwe on Tuesday evening, pledging to continue cooperating with the investment-hungry country as it attempts to reverse a prolonged economic meltdown.

China maintains trade surpluses with numerous African countries, including South Africa, a situation that analysts say should change as China’s investments spur Africa’s industrial capacity and China opens up its markets to goods produced in Africa.

South Africa, after all, is China’s biggest trade partner in Africa.

China is major investor in Zimbabwe, helping to keep its economy afloat.

This marks the first visit of a Chinese leader to the country since 1996.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe greeted Xi at the airport. “That’s quite unprecedented and it speaks volumes about the strategic relationship between South Africa and China”, Monyela said. Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa penned four agreements on behalf of Zimbabwe with the first one being an economic and technical cooperation agreement with China.

Xi will be the most prominent global leader to visit Zimbabwe for many years as veteran President Robert Mugabe, 91, is widely shunned by Western powers.

According to the Chinese Embassy in Harare, China invested 601 million USA dollars in Zimbabwe in 2013, surpassing Chinese investment in any other African country for the year.

China’s trade with Africa is largely import-driven, with the world’s second-largest economy buying oil mostly from Nigeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, Gabon, Uganda, South Sudan and Sudan, and feeding the demand for cheap Chinese products in these countries.