L. Fituni, I. Abramova Resource Potential of Africa and Russia's ...

China concluded two major M&A deals in the mining sector in
Africa worth a combined $3 billion, and five further M&A deals in
the oil and gas sectors valued at $3.9 billion, bringing the total
M&A form of investment into the African resources sector to $6.9
billion.45 This was lower than combined M&A investments in
these sectors in Asia ($15.3 billion) during the same period, but
slightly higher when compared the next largest recipient, Latin
America ($6 billion). 38
It would be wrong to say that all cooperation between China and
Africa consists in buying natural resources. In 2007, China earmarked
$4 billion for developing Africa's infrastructure, which is
more than the total earmarked by all G8 members which made the
solving of Africa's problems one of their priorities. In Angola, China
has rebuilt 400 km of roads, laid two rail lines, and renovated the
airport and Central Hospital in Luanda. In Nigeria, it has begun rebuilding
the rail network. In Sudan, it has built a tanker terminal in
the harbor near Port Sudan, a 1,600-km pipeline to carry oil from the
oil field to the terminal, and an oil refinery.
China is in the process of realizing an $13bn investment project
in Mozambique to develop industrial, tourism, mining and energy
sectors. Among the projects are a car factory and hydro-electric
dams. Mozambique is also targeting 1m tourists from the Asian
country each year. Meanwhile a US$2bn investment fund for projects
by Chinese companies has been set up. 39
China is South Africa’s largest country to-country trade partner.
It is also the biggest foreign investor in South African infrastructure.
In 2010, the two countries signed four agreements in various fields
of specialization, These agreements of cooperation are in the fields
of geology and mineral resources, environment management, railways
and transportation. One of the goals of South African President
Zuma’s 2010 visit to Beijing was to learn how China had succeeded
in the beneficiation of minerals. It also emerged that Standard Bank
could be the financial service provider of choice for a mooted highspeed
railway line between Durban and Johannesburg. The bank’s
commercial relationship with the Industrial and Commercial Bank
of China (ICBC) was cited as the main reason for its preference as a
47