Partnership for Investment and Growth in Africa (PIGA)

Presentation

PIGA is a partnership of the Government of the United Kingdom (UK) of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s Department for International Development (DFID), the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), the China-Africa Development Fund (CADFund) and the International Trade Centre (ITC).

The PIGA project was officially launched during the 2015 President Xi Jinping’s State Visit to the United Kingdom.

Goals

The objective is to increase, in four African countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique and Zambia), investment-led exports and local development by boosting foreign investments and business partnerships.

PIGA is a component of Invest Africa, a large DFID programme linking private sector investors, buyers, financiers and governments in several African countries, to boost manufacturing and create jobs by increasing foreign direct investment.

Quotations from officials

China’s overseas investment will continue to grow. This will provide more opportunities for China-UK cooperation. The Chinese and British companies may also engage in tripartite cooperation in developing countries

Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China

African small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) are the growth levers to ensure local value addition and job creation. Increased Chinese investment support for African SMEs in the light manufacturing and agro-processing sectors will unlock opportunities to increase exports to regional and global markets. This is what we aim to achieve through PIGA

Arancha González, Executive Director, International Trade Centre

This partnership demonstrates how two donors, the UK and China, can work together with efficient multilateral agencies such as ITC, as catalysts for economic growth and poverty reduction in Africa

Julian Braithwaite, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other international organizations

The implementation of the PIGA project is conducive to the implementation of President Xi’s initiative at the FOCAC Beijing Summit, which encourages Chinese companies to make at least US$10 billion of investment in Africa in the next three years

Jiang Xuejun, International Trade Centre’s Chief for Asia and the Pacific

Foreign organizations supporting business in Mozambique