Local governments in China strengthening cooperation with Africa

BEIJING -- China's Zhejiang and Hunan provinces have seen remarkable progress in cooperation with Africa and are willing to further engage in development on the continent, provincial officials said on Wednesday on the sidelines of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

Officials from east China's Zhejiang Province and central China's Hunan Province introduced their economic cooperation and development plans with African countries at two press conferences respectively.

"In 2023, the trade volume between Zhejiang and Africa reached 53.9 billion U.S. dollars, ranking in the forefront among the country's provincial-level regions. In the first half of this year, Zhejiang's imports from Africa reached 5.55 billion dollars, marking a year-on-year increase of 12.9 percent," Chen Jiangfeng, deputy director of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Zhejiang Province, which is an economic powerhouse in east China, told a press conference.

Over the years, the industrial cooperation between Zhejiang and Africa has gradually expanded from labor-intensive sectors to medium and high-end manufacturing, digital economy and cross-border e-commerce, according to Chen.

"Zhejiang provided vocational training for over 2,800 individuals from more than 160 African companies," Chen added.

The province has sent medical teams to Africa over the past decades and supported countries such as Mali, the Central African Republic and Namibia, Chen said, adding that from 2022 to 2023, a total of 110 medical personnel from Zhejiang were dispatched to Africa, providing medical services to 183,800 people in the continent.

Zhu Chonglie, secretary of the Communist Party of China Jinhua Municipal Committee, told the press conference that more than 10,000 enterprises in the city engage in cross-border trade with Africa.

In addition, nearly 2,000 African enterprises are registered in Jinhua, over 30,000 Jinhua businessmen do business in Africa, and almost 80,000 African friends come to Jinhua each year to work and live, Zhu said.

During the press conference, Zhu Jun, chief economist of the provincial department of commerce, said Zhejiang has invested in 575 enterprises across Africa, with investments primarily concentrated in the textile industry, non-ferrous metal mining and wholesale trade.

"Zhejiang is a major province of private economy and private enterprises are the driving force behind the province's investment and cooperation with Africa. In 2023, exports of Zhejiang's private companies to Africa amounted to 277.25 billion yuan (about 38.97 billion U.S. dollars)," Zhu said.

To further enhance China-Africa digital economy cooperation, an Africa day for digital economy will be featured at the third Global Digital Trade Expo, which will be held from Sept. 25 to 29 in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, according to Zhu.

At another press conference, Dai Zhiguang, deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Hunan Province, said that in recent years, Hunan has become one of the most active provinces in economic and trade cooperation with Africa. In 2023, Hunan's total import and export value with Africa reached 55.67 billion yuan.

Hunan has established 12 pairs of sister cities with African countries. Hunan's universities have trained nearly 3,000 international students from more than 40 African countries, said Dai.

"Hunan will focus on developing a service system for China-Africa economic cooperation and exploring new models and pathways for trade collaboration," said Deng Weiping, deputy director of Hunan provincial department of commerce.

In terms of new business models and emerging sectors, Hunan assisted in the development of Kilimall, a leading e-commerce platform in East Africa, Deng added.

The platform set up over 1,500 pick-up points locally and created 10,000 jobs in East Africa, helping over 300 Chinese brands enter the African market.

"Moreover, Hunan will encourage more Chinese enterprises to invest in Africa and promote resource sharing and joint industrial growth between China and Africa," said Deng.