Belt and Road Initiative in Transition
Towards new relationships and development models?
Oxford University China Africa Network (OUCAN)
2025 Annual Conference:
2 June 9:00am - 6:00pm
Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre, Oxford China Centre
Since its launch in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has become a central pillar of China’s foreign policy and global economic engagement. On October 18, 2023, the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation convened, marking a critical juncture as the initiative approached its second decade. In this context, China–Africa relations are shifting away from a primary focus on resource extraction and large-scale infrastructure toward industrial production, value-added trade and investment, and development cooperation in sectors such as energy and technology. This evolving sectoral focus is accompanied by a transition in financing modalities, with the traditionally policy-bank–driven credit model increasingly giving way to more commercially oriented investment approaches.
Understanding the transition of the BRI and its ramifications is crucial given the evolving global political economy, China’s domestic development trajectory, and the changing nature of China–Africa relations. Globally, the post-pandemic recovery, intensifying geopolitical realignments, supply-chain reconfigurations, debt sustainability, and the acceleration of green transitions are reshaping the landscape in which the BRI operates.
These shifts necessitate a re-evaluation of the initiative’s priorities, instruments, and long-term goals. Against this backdrop, the 2025 Annual Conference of the Oxford University China–Africa Network (OUCAN) will convene researchers and practitioners at the forefront of debates on the evolving dynamics of China–Africa relations. The conference will explore key questions such as: How have China–Africa relations shifted amid the ongoing transition of the Belt and Road Initiative? What role does African agency play in shaping the trajectory of this engagement? And how can critical challenges—such as debt sustainability and development-finance mobilization—be addressed in this new era?
Register here.
