The People’s Republic of China has for several decades affirmed its desire to cooperate with third countries in order to develop on an equal footing, strengthen friendship and boost cooperation. This strategy involves essentially win-win bilateral cooperation.
Indeed, Chinese diplomacy is based on several points, including the consolidation of its own economy, as well as the country’s reforms and development. This commitment also includes accelerating its integration into the global economy. China’s African partners have thus taken advantage of this collaboration to improve their trade and their export earnings.
The new Sino-African deal has also made it possible to reintegrate Africa into international flows of formal trade. One country that has fully benefited from this dynamic is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in particular thanks to projects such as Sino-Congolaise des Mines (SICOMINES).
SICOMINES has established a model of collaboration that demonstrates enormous contributions to building a future Sino-African community. According to several personalities and political observers, this wealth-creating model is exactly what the DRC needs. SICOMINES also contributes to sustainable development as well as to the upgrading of industrial chains and the strengthening of autonomous development capacities.
Sino-Congolese cooperation goes back several decades. Presidents Felix Tshisekedi and Xi Jinping recently cemented this cooperation during a state visit by Tshisekedi to China. This visit led to the implementation of new energy battery value chain development projects in the DRC.
China will also encourage companies to invest and establish themselves in the DRC to participate in the construction of infrastructures in accordance with the programs enacted by the Congolese government. Thus, this partnership will benefit the economic diversification and industrialization of the country.
In short, the DRC could take inspiration from this model of collaboration with China to strengthen its cooperation with other partners in the world. The implementation of projects of this type could enable the DRC to emerge from the current economic and social crisis and to better integrate into the world economy.