The Central African Republic is primarily reliant on its exporters, the most significant of which are wood, gems, cotton, and coffee. Belgium is the country’s leading trading partner, buying most diamond exports. France is a significant ally as well, importing the majority of the cocoa and nicotine produced.
The Central African Republic is an active participant in a number of Central African organizations. Standardization of tax, customs, and security arrangements between the Central African states is a major foreign policy objective. The C.A.R. is a participant in the Community of Sahel–Saharan States and the African Union.
Exports
Raw wood, gold, cut wood, diamonds, and other sea vehicles are the Central African Republic’s biggest exports, with most of them going to China, the UAE, France, the USA, and Italy.
Imports
The major purchases of the Central African Republic are Petroleum Products, Processed Drugs, Gas, Telecommunication Equipment, and Refurbished Clothes, bought mostly from France, India, the USA, the Netherlands, and China.
Trade agreements
With India
Because the Central African Republic is a war-torn country with political insecurity, diplomatic trade between the two countries is quite minimal. The two countries’ deals increased from US$1.13 million in 2004 to US$10 million in 2015. In 2015, India sold $9.17 million in commodities to CAR and bought $830,000.
In March 2010, the Central African Republic and India established a Memorandum of Understanding to construct an IT Institute for Innovation in Bangui. Both parties also finalized a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to create two training centers for Computer Training. The two stations first opened their doors in 2011. India established tele-education, telemedicine, and Priority pass access in Bangui as part of the Pan-African e-Network initiative.
CAR received a $5.5 million bank loan from India to buy 100 buses, replace components and build a bus facility. India provided CAR with buses and replacement materials, built a bus facility, and turned it over to CAR officials in 2011. Unfortunately, civil strife in the country has damaged the bulk of the buses, and only two of the 100 buses are still in service as of December 2016. CAR has agreed to obtain $39.69 million in financing to construct two hydroelectric plants. India, on the other hand, has placed the arrangement on hold because CAR has not paid Exim Bank for previously given loans.
Grants are available through the Indian TEC and the Indian Institute for Foreign Affairs for the people of the Central African Republic. Many Central African women went to Barefoot College in Rajasthan for an ITEC training session in solar energy and rooftop water collection.
With China
Since the first Conference on China-CAR Partnership in 2000, the Chinese administration has provided the Central African Republic with $152 million in development aid. The following are some of the significant Chinese assistance initiatives in the Central African Republic:
- An $11.4 million loan payable to China was forgiven.
- The Chinese authorities are funding the building of a 20,000-seat venue in Bangui.
- A loan of $67.4 million from China’s Exim Bank for installing fixed and mobile infrastructures in the country.
Central African Republic trading relations
The Chinese Autonomous Region has diplomatic ties with the Republic of China. On important policy matters, the C.A.R. often joins other African and rising country countries in a unified approach. Argentina, Armenia, Brazil, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Mongolia, Montenegro, Serbia, South Africa, and Vietnam are among the most prominent countries with which the C.A.R. has bilateral relations.
Cameroon is CAR’s most significant neighboring trading ally; most of the nation’s imports flow through Douala’s dock before being trucked to CAR. Only a little distance from the 1,450 km route to the shore remains unpaved.
