China extends cooperation with Africa in transport and aviation fields

Almaty. July 18. Silkroadnews – China expands cooperation with Africa in the fields of transport and aviation, American newspaper Quartz reports.
“China is moving beyond building Africa’s roads, railways and ports to investing in the continent’s transportation and aviation industries as a whole. Plans to build five transportation focused universities and a China-Africa aviation school on the continent are going ahead, according to the dean of Chang’an University in Xi’an, China”, the publication read on Tuesday.
At the same time, it is noted that starting this year, 500 aviation personnel from Africa will start training in China each year.
According to the publication, currently, Africa has more than 20 Chinese-run training centers and over 40 schools of the Chinese language, as well as Confucius centers. It was reported, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said last week that his government would offer 10,000 scholarships to African officials for training in China in the next 10 years. China is already the most popular overseas destination for studying among the African students, ahead of the UK and the US.
With expanding the aviation sector in Africa, China, as reported, will benefit from the sale of its civilian and military aircraft. The report reads “the government-owned aerospace and defense company, Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) had at least nine (pdf) of its 50-seat Xian MA-60 planes in operation in Africa and had set up a center for maintenance and repair in Tanzania. Harbin Aircraft Industry’s utility aircraft, the Y-12, is used by the military in eight African countries. Chinese airlines are already transporting passengers between Africa and China with direct flights from Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Mauritius”.
Expanding cooperation in transport is likely to bring benefit from ticket sales in such projects as a $3.2-billion railway in Kenya and a $4-billion railway connecting the capitals of Djibouti and Ethiopia. Both projects were realized by the Chinese companies.