China to develop economic co-operation with Africa
By Jiang Wei, China Daily.
Sep 1, 2005 — China will strive to strengthen economic co-operation with Africa, particularly in developing human resources, a senior official of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) said yesterday.
“Besides capital investment, China is increasing investment in expanding training for developing human resources in African countries,” Zhang Zhou, vice-chairman of CCPIT, said at the second China-Africa Chamber of Commerce and Industry Seminar which opened in Beijing yesterday.
During the two-week seminar, Chinese officials and CCPIT will brief delegates from 12 countries, including South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan, on the country’s trade and investment policies and how to do business in China.
The delegates will visit enterprises in Beijing and Guangdong Province to discuss possible collaboration.
Ashraf Mutwaki from the Sudan Chamber of Commerce said the seminar would help them convey useful information to businesses back home bilateral trade and investment.
“There is a large potential for co-operating with each other,” he said. “We will encourage our enterprises to trade with, or invest in, China.”
This year’s event is being held for business people and officials from English-speaking countries while the first seminar, held in November and December last year, was for 18 French-speaking countries in the continent.
The government-supported event is just one of a series of steps under the Sino-Africa Co-operation Forum.
At the beginning of the year, China eliminated tariffs on imports of 190 commodities from 25 least-advanced African countries in line with the agreements signed.
The two sides are also preparing to establish a joint chamber of commerce and industry to bolster commercial exchanges.
“China and African countries have great scope for economic co-operation as their economies are complementary,” said Xia Yungui, an official with China’s Ministry of Commerce.
Africa is rich in natural resources and represents a vast market for good-quality and competitively-priced Chinese products.
Recent years have witnessed strong growth in China’s trade with Africa and investment in the continent.
Bilateral trade volume hit US$29.5 billion in 2004, reflecting a 58.9 per cent increase over the previous year, according to statistics from the ministry.
The figure reached US$18.1 billion in the first half of this year, up 42.5 per cent year-on-year.
China’s imports rose some 39 per cent year-on-year to US$9.6 billion from January to June while exports grew about 46.3 per cent to US$8.5 billion.
China mainly exports industrial products such as mechanical and electrical products, high-tech merchandise and garments. It imports natural resources including crude oil, steel and cotton from the continent.
China’s direct investment in Africa recorded US$135 million last year; and Chinese companies are handling hundreds of projects involving trade, processing, transportation and agriculture in around 50 African countries.