期待一带一路惠及非洲

4月2日，冈比亚国会批准《非洲大陆自由贸易协定》（AfCFTA），成为第22个批准该协议的国家。至此，非洲大陆自由贸易区（AfCFTA）协议跨过了生效门槛。该协议将在一个月后正式启动。这标志着非洲国家在区域一体化进程中取得重大进展。

 “非洲经济发展面临巨大挑战，但我们不能因此而止步不前，多年来，非盟制定一系列优先发展计划，比如，1980年通过的《拉各斯行动计划》和1985年通过的《1986—1990年非洲经济复苏优先方案》以及2015年通过的作为“非洲愿景和行动计划”的《2063年议程》,并积极寻求与世界各国紧密合作，以应对挑战，”非盟首任驻华代表拉赫曼塔拉·穆罕默德·奥斯曼（Rahmat
Allah Mohamed
Osman）在接受《中国投资》独家专访时说：“一带一路倡议与非盟《2063年议程》高度契合，我们希望在政策沟通，基础设施，贸易，金融，人文交流等领域紧密合作，共同应对全球挑战，实现共同发展。”

制定计划 应对挑战

《中国投资》：在当前复杂的世界形势下，非洲的发展面临哪些挑战？非盟将如何应对？

拉赫曼塔拉·穆罕默德·奥斯曼：非洲经济面临的挑战是巨大的，其中一些是殖民时代遗留下来的。但我们不能因经济现状的不好而总是责备历史，因为在非洲也有一些积极寻求发展的国家，他们进行了深刻的改革，并且成功地扭转了经济缓慢增长的局面。

此外，我们还必须承认，在过去几十年里，为了帮助非洲经济摆脱困境，我们提出了不少建议和规划，其中包括1980年通过的《拉各斯行动计划》和1985年通过的《1986-1990年非洲经济复苏优先方案》（PPREA），后者是在前者的基础上由非洲统一组织与联合国共同制定的实现非洲经济复苏和发展的补充方案；以及非洲经委会通过的《替代“结构调整计划”的非洲方案》等。虽然做了这些努力，但却没有取得明显的实际效果。最近的一项努力是《非洲发展新伙伴计划》（NEPAD）的提出，它现在已经在非盟框架下建起运行机构。

《中国投资》：非洲目前的经济发展趋势是什么？每个地区都有很大差异吗？为了寻求非洲各地区均衡发展，非盟有何计划？

拉赫曼塔拉·穆罕默德·奥斯曼：非洲五个地区的经济发展趋势当然各不相同，一些国家采取并坚持了彻底的经济改革和宏观经济政策，这使他们在2018年摆脱了经济低速发展的局面，实现了社会经济的明显增长。但与此同时，在大多数非洲国家，由于管理不善的债务、通货膨胀、财务赤字和政治监管的不确定性，导致其国内宏观经济非常不稳定，也对其经济造成了负面影响，因此他们的发展极其缓慢。

推动建设非洲大陆自贸区

《中国投资》：4月，随着冈比亚国会批准《非洲大陆自由贸易协定》(AfCFTA),成为第22个批准该协议的国家，协议跨过生效门槛，即将启动。在您看来，AfCFTA对非洲经济发展的意义何在？非洲一体化的作用是什么？
在非洲落实AfCFTA将面临哪些挑战？会遇到什么困难？为此，非盟有哪些措施和计划？

拉赫曼塔拉·穆罕默德·奥斯曼：最近非洲大陆自由贸易协定（AFCFTA）在一些国家获得批准。在非盟的55个成员国中，已经有超过40个国家签署了该协定。自世贸组织成立以来，非洲的自贸区是全球拥有参与国最多的区域。该自贸协定最初是由非洲统一组织（OAU）倡议和起草的，它免除了成员国90%商品的关税，并且允许他们的商品、货物和服务在非洲大陆各国间自由进、出口。根据联合国非洲经委会预计，到2022年该协定能使非洲内部的贸易额增长52%。

该协定旨在构建一个单一的大陆市场，商品、服务、人员、业务和投资均可在其中自由流动，同时也为加快成立非洲海关联盟创造了条件。这一切都可以更好地促进贸易自由化和便利化机制以及区域经济共同体的投资，并且扩大非洲内部的贸易。这样非盟2063年议程所设想的大陆一体化就能早日得以实现。

一带一路与2063年议程协同发展

《中国投资》：近年来，中非之间的密切合作成为人们关注的焦点。特别是2018年中非合作论坛北京峰会开启了中非全面务实合作的新阶段。您如何评价当前中非合作的成果？中国和非洲要更有效地合作，双方需要共同解决哪些问题？

拉赫曼塔拉·穆罕默德·奥斯曼：2018年举办的中非合作论坛峰会强调了中非合作的广阔范围，它涉及但不仅限于以下方面：1.中国支持非方实现2020年建成“消弭枪声的非洲”；2.在萨赫勒地区联合反恐；3.中国与非盟和平与安全理事会保持磋商机制；4.在发展非洲基础设施方面展开合作；5.利用一带一路倡议与非盟2063年议程在相关领域的协同效应，确保一带一路倡议在非洲实施时双方的合作；6.支持非盟区域一体化的各项举措，包括非洲大陆自由贸易区（AFCFTA）和单一航空运输市场等倡议；7.加强在预警、气候变化、干旱荒漠化和灾害管理与应对等方面的人道主义合作；8.支持非洲农业综合发展计划的实施，包括非盟领导的粮食安全行动方案；9.在哈拉雷非洲能力建设基金会总部成立非洲能力发展研究所；10.各类社会活动方面的合作。

2018年9月5日在北京举行的双边会晤中，中国国家主席习近平和非盟主席穆萨·法基都对双方的合作范围做出了承诺，并一致强调2019-2021年落实中非合作八大行动的重要性。非盟委员会主席还与中国国家发展和改革委员会主任就一带一路倡议的实施及其与非盟2063年议程的协同作用签署了谅解备忘录。这份谅解备忘录旨在通过加强政策、基础设施、贸易、金融、人员间的互联互通，促进非盟与中国在一带一路框架下的合作，协力应对全球挑战，实现共同发展。

《中国投资》：非盟有何计划推动实施2063年非洲议程？您如何理解“一带一路”与“2063年非洲议程”之间的关系？

拉赫曼塔拉·穆罕默德·奥斯曼：如前所述，一带一路倡议与非盟2063年议程具有强烈的协同效应，因为它们的最终目标都是通过各领域重点项目的实施来实现区域一体化。在这些项目中，基础设施项目尤其重要，包括公路、桥梁、铁路、港口和能源等。而它们也正是一带一路倡议下的重点所在。这里我想引用一句中国人常说的话：要想富，先修路。这与非洲大陆的现状是非常契合的，因为非洲国家间的互联互通实在太薄弱了。

不过，众所周知的是，基础设施建设耗资巨大，而它们对经济产生的影响又需要较长的时间才能体现出来。因此，短时间内偿还成本会给脆弱的经济体带来负担，导致他们需要面对诸如债务可持续性等许多挑战。这种现象是非洲大陆目前遇到的最严重的问题，因为它一方面迫切需要修建和改造其基础设施，但另一方面又急于找到一个能够避免因巨额资金引发负面影响的解决方案。这一困境已经引起非洲国家和中国政府的重视。最近在第二届一带一路论坛召开期间，中国的财政部长也提到了这一点。他强调，“中国会寻求在融资需求、可持续发展和债务的可持续性间找到平衡。”他进而补充说，“加强债务和风险的管控是深化一带一路倡议在融资合作方面的重要考量，发展中国家的债务问题应当得到客观处理。如果债务增长能够带来基础设施的改善、人民生活水平提升、生产力提高和减贫效果显现，那这样的长期债务就具有正面的可持续性。”
对于那些急需开展基础设施项目的低收入非洲国家来说，这样的讲话是令人充满希望和倍受鼓舞的。

《中国投资》：您如何看待目前对中非合作的质疑？

拉赫曼塔拉·穆罕默德·奥斯曼：针对非洲与中国合作的质疑和责备历来是大国博弈的一部分。但从另一角度看，我认为这是对非洲人民的一种侮辱，因为它暗示非洲不知道什么是对自己有利的。这与19世纪的殖民主义心态是一样的，当时他们打着将殖民地文明化的旗号，掩盖其想占领非洲领土的真实企图。这些质疑还让人们误以为非洲国家对自己的所作所为一无所知。事实上非洲人已经意识到了这些鼓噪的恶意，而且我们非常珍视与中国的合作，它早在我们努力摆脱殖民地霸权的那个时代就开始了。同时我们也清楚地知道，中国与非洲之间的合作具有战略意义，它建立在双赢的基础上，因此对双方都是有益的。

⬆在埃塞俄比亚首都亚的斯亚贝巴，一列试运行列车在中国企业建设的亚吉铁路上行驶（新华社 孙瑞博摄）

英文版

BRI is anticipated to Benefit Africa

——Interview with H.E. Ambassador Rahmat Allah Mohamed Osman of African Union to China

By Zhang Mei China Investment

On
Apr.2, 2019, Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) was
approved by Gambian Parliament, which means it has become the 22nd
member country of the agreement. Now the agreement has come into force
and will be officially implemented after one month. This marks a
significant progress made by African countries in its process of
regional integration.

Mr.
Rahmat Allah Mohamed Osman is the first AU representative to China, and
when being interviewed exclusively by “China Investment”, he told the
reporter, “The challenges of African economies are immense, but we can’t
passively do anything due to them. Over the years, AU has put forward a
series of priority development plans, including Lagos Plan of Action
adopted in 1980, 1986-1990 Priority Program of Economic Readdressing of
Africa (PPREA) adopted in 1985, as well as AU 2063 Agenda adopted in
2015, which is regarded as ‘African Vision and Plan of Action’, and has
been actively seeking close cooperation with other countries in the
world to response to those challenges.” And he also pointed out, “BRI
has a strong synergy with AU 2063 Agenda, and we do want to enhance the
close cooperation with China in the fields of policy, infrastructure,
trade, finance and people to people connectivity to jointly meet global
challenges and achieve common development.”

China
Investment:What are the challenges Africa is facing in its development
in the current complex world situation? How will the AU respond to them?

Rahmat Allah Mohamed Osman: The
Challenges of the African economies are immense and some of them were
inherited from the colonial era. However we should not continue blaming
that era for the existing collapse of our economies, because there are
some very positive examples of African countries who made serious
reforms and succeeded to curb the slow growth of their economies.
Also
we have to recall that a number of plans or proposals were flagged over
the past decades in an attempt to rectify the ailments of African
economies. They include inter-alia, Lagos Plan of Action 1986-1990
Priority Program of economic Readdressing of Africa (PPREA) 1985 adopted
by the OAU and UN Complementary Program for Economic Readdressing and
Development of Africa, ECA Alternative Structural Adjustment Program for
Africa etc. In spite of all these efforts no tangible achievements. The
last of these efforts is NEPAD which recently became the AU Development
Agency.

China
Investment:What is Africa’s current economic development trend?  Are
there large differences among each region? What are the plans of the AU
in order to seek balanced development in all regions?

Rahmat Allah Mohamed Osman:There
is of course different trends of economic development between the five
African regions. Some countries have adopted and followed rigorous
economic reforms and macroeconomic policies which led to the
achievements manifested in social economic growth in the year 2018.
These policies have led to stop the slow growth of economic development
which stems from domestic macroeconomic instability including poorly
managed debt, inflation and deficits, political regulatory uncertainty
which have negative impact on the economics of the majority of African
countries.

China
Investment:In Apr.2019, Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement
(AfCFTA) was approved by Gambian Parliament, which means it has become
the 22nd member country of the agreement. Now the agreement has come
into force and will be implemented quite soon. In your opinion, what is
the significance of AfCFTA to the economic development of Africa? What
is the role of African integration? What challenges will AfCFTA be
facing in its process? What difficulties will the AU have in the future?
To this end, what measures and plans does the AU have to push it
forward?

Rahmat
Allah Mohamed Osman:The African Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) recently
entered into force after the ratifications of stipulated number of
countries. The total number of countries who signed the agreement
establishing the AFCFTA is more than 40 countries out of the 55 AU
member countries. This free trade area will be the largest in the globe
in terms of participating countries since the formation of the World
Trade Organization WTO. This agreement was initially brokered by the
Organization of the African Unity (OAU). The agreement entails that
member states remove tariffs from 90% of goods and allow free access to
commodities, goods and services across the continent. The UN ECA
estimated that the agreement will boost intra-Africa trade by 52% by the
year 2022.

It
is also envisaged that the agreement will create a single continental
market for goods and services with free movement of people and business
and investment and thus pave the way for accelerating the establishment o
Africa Customs Union which will in turn expand intra-African trade
through better harmonization and coordination of trade liberalization
and facilitation regimes and investments across Regional Economic
Communities. Hence expediating the continental integration as envisaged
by the 2063 AU Agenda.

China
Investment:In recent years, the close cooperation between China and
Africa has become the focus of attention, and particularly, the Beijing
Summit of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum in 2018 opened a new stage
of comprehensive and practical cooperation between China and Africa. How
do you evaluate the achievements of the current China-Africa
cooperation? In order to cooperate more effectively, what problems do
China and Africa need to solve jointly?

Rahmat Allah Mohamed Osman:The
FOCAC Summit (2018) highlighted a broad scope of AU-China cooperation
including but not limited to: 1. China’s support to silencing the guns
by 2020; 2. Cooperation on counter terrorism in the Sahel; 3. China’s
consultations with AU Peace and Security Council; 4. Cooperation Plan on
Infrastructure development in Africa; 5. Cooperation on the
implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Africa
capitalizing on synergies between BRI and AU Agenda 2063 in relevant
sectors; 6. Support to the AU regional integration activities,
initiatives including the African Continental Free trade Area (AFCFTA)
and the single Air Transport Market; 7. Cooperation on humanitarian
response, early warning, climate change, drought and desertification and
disaster management and response; 8. Support to implementation of the
comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program including AU-led
programs of activities on food safety; 9. Establishing African Capacity
Development Institute at the HQ of the Africa Capacity Building
Foundation in Harare; 10. Social cooperation.

This
cooperation scope was reinforced by the commitments made by H.E.
President Xi Jinping and Chairperson Moussa Faki at their bilateral
meeting held in Beijing on 5 September 2018 which emphasized the
importance of cooperation in the Eight Initiatives that form the pillar
of China-Africa cooperation over the period 2019-2021. In this regard
the AUC Chairperson signed a MOU with Chairman of National Development
and Reform Commission on the implementation of BRI and its synergy with
AU 2063 Agenda. The MOU aims to promote AU-China cooperation with BRI
through enhanced policy, infrastructure, trade, finance, people to
people connectivity engagement in global economy and jointly combating
global challenges to achieve common development.

China
Investment: What are the plans of the AU to push forward the
implementation of the African Agenda 2063? How do you understand the
relationship between the Belt and Road Initiative and the African Agenda
2063?

Rahmat Allah Mohamed Osman:As
stated earlier the BRI has a strong synergy with AU 2063 Agenda which
ultimately aims at integrating the continent, through a wide number of
continental projects in all walks of life. The most important of these
programs is infrastructure with all its components, roads, bridges,
railroads, ports, energy etc. These same projects were the backbones of
the BRI. I here want to quote the Chinese proverb which says “if you
want to get rich, build a road”. This is quite pertinent to the existing
situation in the continent which lacks connectivity between neighboring
countries.

However,
it is a well-known fact that infrastructure entails high cost and their
impact on the economy may take long time to be attained. Hence the
repayment of their cost will burden the fragile economies in the short
run which will lead to many challenges namely the debt sustainability.
This phenomenon is the most serious problem facing the continent which
badly needs infrastructure projects at the same time need to find a
formula whereby to avoid the negative ramifications of these huge
finances. This dilemma was under consideration between African countries
and the Chinese government. Recently during the 2nd BRF the Chinese
Minister of Finance alluded to it. He emphasized that “Chinese looks to
strike a balance between financing needs, sustainable development and
debt sustainability”. He added that “enhancing debt and risk management
is key consideration for deepening BRI financing cooperation and the
debt issue in developing countries should be treated objectively. If
debt growth is accompanied by infrastructure improvement, enhancement of
people’s livelihoods and productivity and poverty reduction it will be
beneficial for sustainability of long-term debt.”

These
words were very much promising and encouraging to the low income
African countries who already need to construct infrastructural
projects.

China Investment:How do you view the current doubts about China-Africa cooperation?

Rahmat Allah Mohamed Osman:The
questioning or criticism by certain circles of the Africa-China
cooperation is part of the global rivalries and competition between big
powers. From another angle I consider it a sort of insult to Africans as
it insinuates that they do not know what benefits them. It is the same
colonial mentality of the 19th century when they scrambled to Africa
under the wrong pretext of civilizing the colonies. It also depicts
African countries as being ignorant of what they are up to. We in Africa
were cognizant of the ill intentions of these campaigns and we do value
our cooperation with china which goes back to the early days of our
independence from the hegemony of the colonial powers. We have chosen
this cooperation to be strategic one and we know it is beneficial to
both of us based on a win-win formula.

⬆The
closing session of the 32nd Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU)
Summit held at African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on
February 11, 2019.（CFP）