Creating Space for Africa: Revisiting China's Call for Co-Construction of the Belt and Road Initiative With African Countries

Abstract

China's call for the co-construction of the belt and road initiative (BRI) with African countries has drawn scholarly attention to issues such as China's interest in Africa, Africa's interests in participating in the BRI, potential areas of synergy for complementary development, and Africa's strategy for engaging in the BRI. The paper revealed that there is a possible nexus for synergies between the BRI and Africa's development agenda, Agenda 2063. Nevertheless, the paper argued that despite the many promising potentials present in the BRI, without a better management strategy for engagement, the desired meaningful partnership will be far from actualization. As a result, it proposes engaging in BRI at the multilateral level. The paper submits that engagements at the multilateral level with AU and AUDA-NEPAD other than bilateral engagement are critical for achieving the desired partnership.