China to boost aid to Caribbean
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By Rickey Singh
Observer Caribbean correspondent
Saturday, November 22, 2008
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BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - The Caribbean is in for a big boost in economic aid and trade development with the People's Republic of China, consistent with Beijing's new policy to deepen relations with this region and Latin America.
The new "friendship initiatives" by Beijing include expanded bilateral grant aid and loans to governments on preferential terms, as well as increases in multilateral aid packages through the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), as well as widening bilateral trade.
China's biggest trade partners within the Caribbean Community (Caricom) have been Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize and Antigua and Barbuda. Its diplomatic ties first started in the 1970s with Guyana and Jamaica.
Following the recent release of the Chinese Government's new Policy Paper on Latin America and the Caribbean by China's Foreign Minister Yang Jeichi in Beijing, the country's ambassador to Barbados, Liu Huanxing, has been pointing to specific benefits to accrue to Caricom and other states of the Greater Caribbean, including Cuba and Dominican Republic.
Already established is an economic assistance package for the Caribbean region totalling US$500 million over a three-year period ending in 2010.
Access to this aid programme will provide participating governments with preferential loans for investment in various sectors, including agriculture, fishing, manufacturing, construction and infrastructure development. Chinese companies will be encouraged to be involved in the three-year programme.
The aid package also covers an expanded training programme with an offer to equip 2,000 Caribbean nationals with specific skills in a wide range of development efforts, in addition to providing scholarships to students in China and sending Chinese teachers and medical teams to this region as required.
China's multilateral aid to Caricom states provided through the CDB, some US$30 million, will now be further enhanced out of an estimated US$350-million allocation to the IADB of which it is the newest donor member.
In the area of trade, China-Caribbean import/export trade continues to rapidly expand, reaching over US$4 billion last year with Cuba and the Dominican Republic as the major partners, and with the Caribbean-Latin American region currently Beijing's third largest partner in global trade.
The Chinese Foreign Minister said the "policy paper", which has traced the history of China's relations with the Caribbean-Latin American region, seeks to "map out a guiding principle" for future cooperation in various fields, including economic, cultural, security, media, health, education, science and technology, finance, trade, tourism, legislatures and political parties.
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