Hannah Ryder and Patrick Anam: Africa-China Relations, AfCFTA and Developmental Finance

Change Africa Podcast

Development Reimagined (DI) brings a cross-cultural understanding and gap support to international agencies and governments that wish to work with China to cultivate and share knowledge for the public good. CEO Hannah Ryder and Senior Policy Analyst Patrick Adam joined us to dissect Africa's working relationship with China.

We begin the conversation by enquiring from our guests about the foundations of anti-China sentiments in the world and explore what makes China a complex player in our world's geopolitical and economic interplays. Patrick focuses on the blueprint document he led, "From China-Africa to Africa-China: A Blueprint for a Green and Inclusive Continent-Wide African Strategy towards China," to explain the approach African leaders should take in dealing with China and how to maximise the best outcomes for their nations through the lens of trade, infrastructure and human capital. Patrick underscores how the formation of trade relations between Africa and China through establishing The Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was first an African-borne initiative and how that difference may differ from other such bloc partnerships.

Hannah believes Africa should be focused on adding value to raw materials and building better regional infrastructure if aspirations like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) are to be fully realised. While African nations may not always have the depth of information that development partners in China need, organisations like DI assist in bridging such gaps. Ultimately, DI's opposition is that these initiatives must also be green and sustainable to avoid future transitions like China's. Hannah argues against the popular opinion that Africa is debt trapped and believes it needs even more debt (quality debt focused on value-addition) to power its developmental gaps that cannot be financed internally. We explore the dilution of Africa's narrative in the hands of other actors and how to take on more agency in determining how the world sees the continent.

Hannah advocates for a public China strategy (and similarly for the Western bloc) that engages the public on the vision of such collaboration on the needs of the country and its citizenry. We conclude by exploring innovative ways to rethink developmental finance around the idea of "group lending" at a multilateral level.

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