Today September 3, 2018, in Beijing, in his opening speech during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), Xi Jinping (photo), China’s president announced that his country would provide $60 billion to Africa.

The president explained that these funds will be granted as government aids and investments via financial institutions and companies.

He also announced some measures aimed at canceling the debts some African countries contracted via interest-free loans and which are normally due by end-2018.

These cancellations concern countries deemed as least developed, poor and highly indebted, landlocked or developing islands with diplomatic ties with China, he continued.

Xi Jinping also declared that China was planning eight major initiatives in various sectors such as industrial promotion, infrastructures, trade facilitation and green development. These initiatives are to be implemented with African countries in the three coming years and even beyond.