China Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation Shows Strong Vitality (China Africa Cooperation in the New Era)

Economic and trade cooperation is the "ballast stone" and "propeller" of China Africa relations. In 2023, the trade volume between China and Africa reached a historical peak of 282.1 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 1.5%; The year-on-year increase in trade volume between China and nearly half of African countries exceeded double digits; China's stock of direct investment in Africa exceeds 40 billion US dollars, making it one of the main sources of foreign investment in Africa... A series of impressive data shows that the scale of China Africa trade has repeatedly reached new highs, investment cooperation has steadily grown, and China Africa economic and trade cooperation is full of strong vitality.

The more the economic and trade network is woven, the denser it becomes

In the morning, the fishing boat returned with a full load. At the seafood processing plant in Shimoni Town, Kwale County, on the eastern coast of Kenya, local employees process captured anchovies into small dried fish, seal them in boxes, and send them to a cold storage for further processing by air freight to China, making them delicious seafood snacks;

At the Lekki Deepwater Port in Nigeria, robotic arms are unloading containers from cargo ships and placing them in a giant yard. Goods from China are constantly entering Nigeria from here;

As night falls, Yiwu International Trade City in Zhejiang is still brightly lit. Nowadays, more than 560000 overseas customers purchase from Yiwu every year, with African customers accounting for over 1/10. Yiwu, known as the "World Supermarket," helps "Made in China" reach Africa;

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Busy factories, bustling docks, and bustling merchants witness the boom of economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa across mountains and seas. China has maintained its position as Africa's largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years. In recent years, the scale of China Africa economic and trade cooperation has continued to expand, and the trade structure has been continuously optimized. The current economic and trade cooperation between Africa and China is constantly deepening, fruitful, and full of vitality, "said Egypt's" National Echo Network ".

The expansion of agricultural exports from African countries to China is a major highlight. In 2023, China's imports of nuts, vegetables, flowers, and fruits from Africa will increase by 130%, 32%, 14%, and 7% year-on-year, respectively. More and more high-quality African agricultural products, such as fresh pears from South Africa, sesame seeds from Tanzania, cashews from Ivory Coast, chili peppers from Rwanda, and coffee from Ethiopia, are being served on the dining tables of Chinese people. This is due to the successful implementation of measures such as the "Green Channel" for African agricultural products to be exported to China. As of now, China has signed 22 agreements on the entry of agricultural products into China with 14 African countries, and the amount of imported agricultural products from non African countries has achieved continuous positive growth for 7 years.

Through the "Nine Projects" of pragmatic cooperation between China and Africa, China has approved and implemented 26 trade promotion projects, including the comprehensive facilities of Ghana's fishing port and the Nouakchott overpass in Mauritania, as well as 11 industrialization and employment promotion projects, such as the aid to Madagascar's highway and Zambia's power facilities. Many projects under the "Trade Promotion Project" and "Investment Driven Project" have been implemented and promoted, greatly improving the level of regional connectivity on the African continent and providing strong support for promoting trade facilitation between China and Africa.

Africa has shown unlimited possibilities and enormous growth potential in trade, investment, technology, infrastructure construction, and more. We welcome more Chinese companies to develop in Africa, "said Abubakar Hassan Abubakar, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry of Kenya.

The digital economy unleashes vitality

In May of this year, Huawei's public cloud Cairo node was officially launched in Egypt, providing over 200 cloud services including artificial intelligence platforms, data platforms, and development platforms. This is the first public cloud service in Egypt and even in northern Africa, which will further promote the development of Egypt's digital economy.

From the construction of digital infrastructure and social digital transformation to new formats such as e-commerce, live streaming e-commerce, and mobile payments, the connotation of China Africa digital economic cooperation continues to enrich, helping Africa achieve digital transformation.

From participating in multiple submarine cable projects connecting Africa with Europe, Asia, and the Americas, to cooperating with mainstream African operators to achieve full coverage of telecommunications services in Africa, to helping African countries add and upgrade their communication backbone networks, Chinese companies actively participate in the construction of digital infrastructure in Africa and help African countries narrow the digital divide. Africa has vast prospects for the digital economy market. We believe that with the help of China, Africa will accelerate its pace of digital transformation, "said Professor Berhutesfa of Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia.

Every edition of the Africa Good Shopping Festival always sparks a wave of 'Africa fever'. Chinese and African anchors collaborate to promote African specialty products, making it easy for Chinese consumers to make purchases from the comfort of their homes. China and Africa join hands to expand cooperation in Silk Road e-commerce, with a large number of high-quality African products entering the Chinese market through cross-border e-commerce platforms.

On the outskirts of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, Kilimall's warehouse shelves are filled with a dazzling array of goods from various countries. Employees are busy counting, scanning, and packing the goods. This e-commerce platform, founded by Chinese entrepreneurs in Kenya, has become a popular online shopping platform among African people and has created nearly 10000 job opportunities for the local community.

Demisi, a researcher at the Ethiopian Policy Research Institute, believes that Chinese e-commerce is a booster of opportunities and vitality, and its innovative business models and efficient operational capabilities are helping Africa's economy and society move forward.

Not long ago, China and Africa jointly released the "China Africa Digital Cooperation Development Action Plan", focusing on cooperation in the fields of new generation mobile communication, backbone networks, data centers, and more. Chad's Minister of Communications, Digital Economy and Digitization, Buka Michel, expressed the hope to gain development experience through cooperation with Chinese partners and help Africa make significant progress in digital transformation.

The channels for cooperation are becoming increasingly diverse

In the Kenya Pavilion of Hunan Gaoqiao Market, various flowers are competing for beauty. The transportation of these flowers from Kenya to Takahashi Market took less than a day. In the African Coffee Trading Center, the aroma is overflowing, and the coffee here is directly purchased, processed, packaged, and sold from Africa. After more than 10 hours of flight, South African lobsters have arrived at the tables of Chinese people from here... As a sub exhibition hall and permanent exhibition hall of the China Africa Economic and Trade Expo, Hunan Gaoqiao Market is a microcosm of China Africa economic and trade cooperation.

Last year, during the third China Africa Economic and Trade Expo, a total of 120 projects worth 10.3 billion US dollars were signed by all parties; 99 docking cooperation projects with a total amount of 8.7 billion US dollars have been launched, among which 11 African countries have launched 74 docking projects, the highest number in history. In May of this year, as one of the series of activities for the China Africa Economic and Trade Expo to enter Africa, the China Africa Investment and Trade Promotion Cooperation Exchange Conference was held in Nairobi, with 10 cooperation projects signed at the event site.

Hunan Yuanshi Seed Industry High tech Co., Ltd. has participated in the China Africa Economic and Trade Expo for three consecutive times. With the support of platforms such as the China Africa Economic and Trade Expo, our cooperation with African countries has become increasingly close, "said Wan Jueming, Executive Vice General Manager of the company." The promotion of hybrid rice seeds and technology in Africa has helped local farmers increase production and income, and has also added new categories of non resource product trade cooperation

In addition, China has set up a special zone for African agricultural products at the China International Import Expo and organized one-on-one communication between Chinese importers and African exhibitors. At the 6th CIIE last year, 7 out of the 11 countries that participated in the national exhibition for the first time were from Africa. More and more African countries and enterprises are bringing their own unique products to the world stage, and also using the window of the CIIE to learn about China. The Standard Bank Group of South Africa has been "fully present" at the exhibition for six consecutive years. The CIIE provides an excellent platform for African companies to showcase and promote their products to the vast Chinese market, "said Philip McBover, Head of Central African Banking and Trade Business at the Corporate and Commercial Banking Department of the group

China Africa cooperation for mutual benefit and win-win outcomes. Looking ahead to the future, with the 2024 Forum on China Africa Cooperation Summit as a new starting point, China and Africa will adopt a more open attitude and practical measures to jointly promote high-quality development of China Africa economic and trade cooperation, and provide stronger support for promoting the economic and social development of China and African countries.