Promoting poverty alleviation in Africa and upgrading China's industries

On June 26, 27 pieces of 315 kg wild dried anchovy produced in Kenya arrived at Changsha Huanghua International Airport. The customs of Changsha Huanghua Airport carried out inspection and quarantine according to the regulations, issued the entry cargo inspection and quarantine certificate for this batch of dried anchovy and went through the customs clearance and release procedures. This is the first time China has imported wild anchovy products from Kenya and will appear at the 3rd China Africa Economic and Trade Expo.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the proposal of jointly building the "the Belt and Road" initiative. Over the past 10 years, China Africa trade exchanges have been close, the scale of trade has steadily increased, and China Africa economic and trade cooperation has reached a new level of high-quality development. Data shows that in the past 10 years, China has always maintained its position as Africa's largest trading partner. In 2022, the trade volume between China and Africa reached 282 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 11.1%. Calculated in RMB, China's imports and exports to Africa increased by 16.4% year-on-year in the first five months of this year. Nowadays, products such as South African red wine, Ethiopian coffee, Moroccan skincare products, Ghanaian chocolate, and Tanzanian cashews are widely praised in China.
Liu Qinghai, associate researcher of the African Research Institute of Zhejiang Normal University and director of the African Economic Research Institute, said in an interview with the China Trade Daily that the steady increase in the scale of China Africa trade benefited from multiple factors. First, the steady development of China Africa friendly relations laid a good political foundation for China Africa economic and trade cooperation. Specifically, it also includes the following positive factors:
The relatively fast economic growth of China and Africa over the years has driven the expansion of markets and demand, laying a solid foundation for the expansion of China Africa's import and export volume, and promoting the expansion of trade scale.
There is significant complementarity in the Central African market. The main products of China's exports to Africa are concentrated in mechanical and electrical products, daily Household goods, textile raw materials and products, and base metals and their products. Africa's resource products and agricultural products have a vast market in China.
Since the establishment of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation in 2000, a series of action initiatives, such as the "Eight Actions", the "Nine Projects" and related supporting measures, have driven China Africa cooperation in investment, infrastructure connectivity and other fields, and promoted China Africa trade to achieve results. Under the trade promotion project, 16 agricultural products from 11 African countries have been admitted to China under the "Green Channel", and 21 African countries have already enjoyed zero tariff treatment for 98% of their products exported to China.
Financial support supports China Africa trade. China has granted Africa a series of trade preferential treatment and launched special funds to facilitate bilateral trade settlement. For example, as an important part of the supporting funds for the "Eight Actions", in 2019, the Export–Import Bank of China set up a special fund of 5 billion US dollars for financing Import from Africa to enhance the export earning capacity of African countries, promote the smooth flow of China Africa trade and improve China Africa trade structure.
Local governments are constantly expanding the scope and fields of local trade cooperation with Africa. Local cooperation with Africa is an important way to build precise cooperation channels. The overall development direction of African countries tends to converge, but it is not a Tongil Market. The 54 sovereign countries are complex and multifaceted in terms of resource endowments, national conditions and cultures, and economic bases. Local governments can better align and implement national policies towards Africa, strengthen exchanges and cooperation with Africa, and better evaluate their own comparative advantages