Xi’s 1bn doses of vaccine, US$10bn investment for Africa

The President of the Peoples Republic of China Xi Jinping has indicated his country’s commitment to delivering another one billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa.

He also noted his readiness to encourage Chinese firms to invest no less than US$10 billion in the continent over the next three years.

So far, China has already supplied almost 200 million doses to the region, where vaccination rates have lagged due to growing worries concerning the spread of a new and more resilient Omicron variant, first detected in the southern part of Africa.

Xi said that the country would be providing 600 million doses as donations, while the remaining 400 million doses would be provided through other means such as joint production by Chinese companies and relevant African countries.

As part of this investment plan, China is committed to building 10 major health projects in Africa and also provide 1,500 health experts, he said.

In a speech via video link at the opening of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Xi shared plans to set up a China-Africa cross-border yuan centre to avail African financial institutions with a credit line of US$10 billion.