release time:2024/2/23
In 2023, Nigeria's Leki Deepwater Port will open for operation, the terminals of Zimbabwe and Angola International Airports will be successfully completed, and the Cote d'Ivoire Kocodi Bridge will be completed and opened to traffic; In 2023, the trade volume between China and Africa reached a historical peak of 282.1 billion US dollars; In 2023, China's direct investment in Africa continues to maintain a growth trend... Over the past year, China Africa economic and trade cooperation has achieved fruitful results.
"The world is currently undergoing unprecedented changes, and as the 'ballast stone' and 'propeller' of China Africa cooperation, strengthening economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa is crucial." Liu Qinghai, director of the Institute of African Economics at Zhejiang Normal University, stated in an interview with China Trade News that there are 54 countries in Africa, which not only contain huge demographic dividends but also possess a large amount of strategic resources required for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Moreover, they highly agree with the concept of a community of shared future between China and Africa, which is almost a continent that has participated in the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road". Strengthening economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa can provide reliable energy and mineral resources for the stable development of China's industrial chain supply chain, provide long-term space for industrial upgrading, and also bring Africa much-needed capital and technology, transform its resource advantages into development advantages, and bring better development prospects for Africa.
The year 2023 marks the tenth anniversary of the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" initiative. Liu Qinghai said that in recent years, the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" initiative and the practical measures of previous sessions of the Forum on China Africa Cooperation have promoted cooperation in China Africa investment, production capacity, facilities connectivity and other fields, and China Africa economic and trade cooperation has achieved fruitful results.
The scale of trade has repeatedly reached new highs. China has maintained its position as Africa's largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years. The trade structure between China and Africa continues to optimize, with imported agricultural products from Africa becoming a growth highlight. In 2023, China's imports of nuts, vegetables, flowers, and fruits from Africa increased by 130%, 32%, 14%, and 7% year-on-year, respectively. Mechanical and electrical products have become the main force in exports to Africa, with "new three types" products achieving rapid growth in exports to Africa. Exports of new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products increased by 291%, 109%, and 57% year-on-year. Investment cooperation is steadily growing. China is the developing country with the largest investment scale in Africa. As of the end of 2022, China's direct investment stock in Africa exceeded 40 billion US dollars. The cooperation in infrastructure construction has achieved significant results. Africa is China's second largest overseas contracting engineering market, with Chinese companies signing over 700 billion US dollars in contracted engineering contracts and completing over 400 billion US dollars in revenue. They have built a number of iconic projects and "small yet beautiful" projects in areas such as transportation, energy, electricity, housing, and people's livelihoods.
It is worth noting that cooperation in emerging fields such as digital economy, green and low-carbon, aerospace, and financial services continues to expand, injecting new vitality into China Africa economic and trade cooperation. China and Africa have joined hands to expand cooperation in the "Silk Road E-commerce" initiative, successfully hosting the African Good Things Online Shopping Festival, implementing the "One Hundred Stores, One Thousand Products, One Platform" initiative in Africa, and driving Chinese enterprises to actively support the development of African e-commerce, mobile payment, media and entertainment industries.
Since its establishment in 2014, Kilimall, China's first Internet e-commerce enterprise in Africa, has grown to be the first e-commerce app in East Africa, created nearly 10000 jobs in Africa, and built a "digital bridge" connecting China and Africa. Platform Brand Director Liao Zhengrong introduced that Kilimall has currently established an overseas warehouse of over 10000 square meters in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. The self built logistics system can achieve the fastest delivery of goods on the same day, and the independently developed online payment system supports multi-channel transactions in multiple currencies. It is reported that Kilimall is planning to open sites and conduct business in more countries in Africa, and to build new overseas warehouses in Tanzania and Uganda. In the future, in addition to selling Chinese products to Africa, the platform will also sell South African aloe vera gum, red wine, high-quality coffee and handicrafts from Ethiopia and Kenya, and dried mangoes from Uganda to China to meet the needs of both sides of the public.
"The potential for digital economic cooperation between China and Africa is enormous." Liu Qinghai said that in recent years, new economic formats such as mobile payments, digital technology applications, and e-commerce have increasingly received support from African countries, bringing more opportunities for cooperation between China and Africa in areas such as financial technology, digital agriculture, e-commerce, and communication infrastructure. China can use its expertise and resources to expand Africa's telecommunications infrastructure, Internet access and artificial intelligence applications, provide reliable and high-quality digital and mobile currency services, help Africa create a prosperous digital ecosystem, promote economic growth, create employment opportunities and promote technological progress in Africa.
If we get along well, we will be together for thousands of miles. China is advancing towards the second centenary goal, and Africa is accelerating towards the beautiful vision outlined in the African Union's 2063 Agenda. In Liu Qinghai's view, China and Africa have strong economic complementarity and a bright prospect for economic and trade cooperation. China not only has a huge market and rich development experience, but also the most urgently needed funds, technology, and talents for the current development of African countries, especially the concept of genuine sincerity and the popular win-win cooperation strategy in Africa. China's electromechanical products, daily necessities, and textiles still meet the current needs of Africa, and Africa's resource-based and agricultural products still have a broad market in China.
In order to enhance the level of China Africa economic and trade cooperation and promote the construction of a high-level China Africa community with a shared future, Liu Qinghai suggests that efforts should be made to innovate the mechanism of China Africa economic and trade cooperation, improve the modern industrial and supply chain system between China and Africa, and enhance the synergy level of trade, industry, finance, and cultural cooperation between China and Africa. In terms of trade, strengthen friendly consultations between China and Africa, jointly formulate medium - and long-term plans for China Africa trade cooperation, and properly solve the problems in China Africa trade cooperation; In terms of finance, lower the financing threshold for relevant cooperative funds, provide more relevant information to Chinese enterprises, continue to expand the use of local currency in investment, financing, and trade with Africa, and sign bilateral currency swap agreements with more African countries. At the same time, we will adhere to a global perspective, coordinate cooperation and security, and build a service and defense support system to promote economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa.
Recently, China Africa economic and trade cooperation has welcomed another heavyweight of favorable policies. The overall plan for the construction of the China Africa Economic and Trade Deep Cooperation Pilot Zone has been released, and the construction of the China Africa Economic and Trade Deep Cooperation Pilot Zone is an important measure to implement the "nine projects" of China Africa cooperation. Xu Deshun, a researcher at the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, stated that the "comprehensive", "win-win", "deep" and "advanced" economic and trade cooperation brought about by the construction of the pilot zone is in line with the development needs of both China and Africa. It is expected that both sides will make new progress in promoting the development of new foreign trade formats such as cross-border e-commerce, overseas warehouses, and offshore trade, in key mineral industry chains, supply chains, local currency pricing and settlement, convenient trade clearance, and smooth logistics New breakthroughs will be made in economic and trade cooperation in multiple fields such as open rules, standards, and systems, and cultural exchanges.
Copyright Taishan Chuanggu Group All Rights Reserved
Tel: +86-538-5073088
Email: taishanchuanggu@163.com
Address: Tai’an city, Shandong province,China, 271000.