China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) funds "Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 Villages" project in Benin (Linked to Project ID#57618)

In December 2015, President Xi Jinping pledged to construct and donate TV/satellite equipment for a few African countries, a project now called "Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 Villages (万村通)" in his speech in Johannesburg, South Africa. According to a tweet from China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), the organization funds the project under the "South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund". StarTimes Group (四达时代), a private Chinese company, is tasked to implement this project. The villages that benefit from this project are Akpakanme, Vakon, and Ounkémé near the capital. The project provided clear satellite TV programs to 200 villages, 4,000 households, and 200 public areas in 10 provinces of Benin, benefiting 600,000 people in rural areas. According to cio-mag, the project was approved by the Council of Ministers on February 27, 2019. On November 20, 2020, Chinese Ambassador to Benin Peng Jingtao (彭惊涛) and representatives from the Beninese government attended the handover ceremony. However, the Ambassador revealed that the TVs were already in operation in 2019. The exact start date of this project is unknown.

Additional details

CIDCA is a Chinese official agency established in April, 2018. The agency integrates the responsibilities of the Ministry of Commerce's foreign aid and the Foreign Affairs' foreign aid coordination. CIDCA is an agency directly under the State Council. Therefore, the funding agencies of the Umbrella project #57618 was coded as the China Ministry of Commerce, while this project codes it as CIDCA.

Number of official sources

4

Number of total sources

7