Togo: Beijing cancels part of Togolese debt, thirteen agreements signed during Faure Gnassingbé's visit

China has agreed to cancel part of Togo's public debt during the official visit of Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé, who was received in Beijing on Thursday, October 15, 2026, by Chinese Premier Li Qiang. Thirteen agreements and memorandums were signed, reports the Journal du Togo. The amount of the debt written off was not disclosed.

According to Togonews, the latest detailed data from the International Monetary Fund by creditor estimated Togo's debt to China at approximately 331 million dollars at the end of 2024, consisting mainly of loans from the Exim Bank of China. This represented about 5% of the country's total public debt and 3.5% of its gross domestic product.

Togolese soybeans to China

Beyond the debt, the signed documents cover seven sectors. The Togolese Revenue Authority and the General Administration of Customs of China have adopted a protocol on "authorized economic operators," intended to accelerate customs clearance for companies deemed reliable. Another protocol sets the phytosanitary requirements applicable to exports of Togolese soybeans to China, a market that Lomé has been seeking for several years for its organic sector.

Other agreements concern training and human resource development, the construction of the future headquarters of the Togolese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and decentralized cooperation between the Chinese province of Shaanxi and the Kara region. Two memorandums link Togolese National Television to China Media Group and the Chinese radio and television authority. A final document commits Togo to the Global Security Initiative promoted by Beijing.

The two countries had elevated their relationship to the status of a "community with a shared future" on October 13, 2026, according to the Journal du Togo.

What the opacity of the amount leaves open

Neither the Journal du Togo nor Togonews provides the amount written off: both media outlets state that it was not disclosed. Without this figure, neither the Togolese people nor their representatives can measure what the state has actually saved, nor what it has conceded in exchange.

The question is not theoretical for a country whose public debt remains monitored by the IMF. It joins a debate that is sweeping across the continent: Africans have the right to know the terms under which their governments borrow, renegotiate, and sign. Transparency regarding a bilateral agreement is worth as much as the agreement itself.

No publication schedule for the protocol has been announced by Lomé.