Chinese President Ends Zimbabwe Visit After Striking Lucrative Deals in Harare

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Zimbabwe on Tuesday, the first visit by a Chinese leader since 1996, amid expectations this would lead to the signing of infrastructure funding and investment agreements.

The two countries also signed a deal to improve cooperation in nuclear power, but gave no details.

Xi said China has made great efforts to improve public awareness of wildlife protection and an increasing number of people, as well as organizations from the private sector, are participating in the course.

The Summit will also review the implementation of various agreements signed since 2006, and outline the course of action for development of China-Africa relations over the next few years.

Xi’s visit will raise the profile of Zimbabwe as a safe destination for Chinese investment and tourists, she said.

Chin’s President Xi Jinping addresses world leaders at the COP21, United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Le Bourget, outside Paris, Monday, Nov. 30, 2015.

Xi was greeted at the airport by Mugabe, 91, who has ruled since independence in 1980, as hundreds of children waved Chinese and Zimbabwean flags along the road into the capital Harare.

“The Chinese president will make a difference in our trade relations with China in a manner that is sustainable, in a manner that will attract many investors into Zimbabwe”, the minister told Xinhua. While China’s goal is to realise the dream of great national rejuvenation, Zimbabwe’s is to achieve economic independence and self-reliant, sustainable development, Xi said in the article. “But you still have to pay for it and it will lead Zimbabwe deeper into a debt crisis”, Antony Hawkins, economics professor at University of Zimbabwe’s Graduate School of Management said, referring to Xi.

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. “Together we can take Africa and China forward in positive ways that have never been imagined before”, he said.

China is the largest buyer of tobacco from Zimbabwe, and-as in many African countries-has invested in mining, manufacturing and infrastructure.

China’s importance to Zimbabwe’s economy has grown over the past 10 years, with trade between the two countries doubling to $1,2 billion between 2010 and 2014.

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

“The Chinese are becoming strong in terms of their investments in Zimbabwe”.

Zhang Ming, a Chinese vice foreign minister, last week said Beijing would continue to provide support and loans to the continent which supplies oil and raw materials such as copper and uranium to the world’s second-largest economy.