China signs several infrastructure agreements with Chad and Senegal

China signed several agreements with Chad and Senegal this week, focusing on electricity, infrastructure, water, and communications, at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing, Reuters reports. These deals, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, reflect Chinese President Xi’s strategy to shift away large-scale infrastructure and toward "small and beautiful projects". Chad signed six memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Chinese companies in areas including energy, water, agriculture, infrastructure, and defense. Notably, two MoUs with construction firm CMEC aim to improve access to electricity and drinking water in Chad’s capital, N'Djamena. Another company, CAMCE, agreed to build an international airport near N'Djamena and develop modern farms in four localities.

Senegal's presidency said the West African country had signed around a dozen agreements with China, covering information and communications technology, green development and media. China, the world's largest bilateral lender will also give an unconditional grant of 27 billion CFA francs ($45.80 million) to Senegal.