On March 29, the 7th China Africa Industrial Cooperation and Development Forum was held in Futian Shangri-La Hotel at Shenzhen. More than 200 envoys and entrepreneurs attended the forum, coming from over 10 African countries including Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda, Botswana. Lesotho Ambassador Rabale to China, Zhao Keding, former Secretary of the Party Committee of the Metallurgical Service Bureau of the State owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, and Guo Chongli, former Chinese ambassador to Kenya delivered speeches successively, and invited experts on African issues and several Shenzhen enterprises to release projects on China Africa cooperation. There was also a special summit dialogue session, which focused on topics such as Chinese enterprises' new infrastructure in Africa, new opportunities for Chinese brands to market overseas, and cooperation in intellectual property and legal matters between China and Africa. At the meeting, experts and scholars also proposed relevant suggestions for investing in and building factories in Africa.

In his speech, Cheng Zhigang, Secretary General of the China Africa Industrial Cooperation and Development Forum, said that the China Africa Industrial Forum has been committed to promoting and developing China Africa industrial and trade relations, integrating the production capacity of industrial parks and trade parks, and promoting the development of the China Africa industrial chain. In recent years, China has supported African countries to improve the soft and hard investment environment in accordance with their national conditions and development needs, and has assisted Africa in its industrialization and economic diversification process, led by industrial docking and production capacity cooperation. This forum will focus on promoting the cooperation and signing of projects such as African industrial parks and Sino-Africa trade overseas warehouses.

 

In his speech, Ambassador Rabale of Lesotho to China mentioned, when referring to the environment for investing and building factories in Lesotho, "Our duty-free transactions with members of the South African Customs Union have opened the membership of the SADC Free Trade Area to 10 other SADC countries, including approximately 130.6 billion yuan. All investors will benefit from it. There is also the African Continent Free Trade Agreement." "Because our members have a common agreement, as well as the Southern African Development Community, the European Union (EU), and the EPA&SACUM-UUK EPA, which grant Lesotho duty-free and quota-free access to the EU and the United Kingdom.". "Invest in us through the Generalized System of Preferences to gain agreement advantages."

 

 

    Secretary Zhao Keding stated that in the next 10 years, there are many similarities in the economic restructuring between China and African countries, and China Africa cooperation will be further deepened. China's sustainable development needs Africa, and Africa's economic development cannot be separated from China. Let's jointly create a better future for Africa.

 

    Ambassador Guo Chongli mentioned that China's diplomacy with Africa has always firmly adhered to the concept of "true, close, and sincere" and the correct concept of justice and interests, promoted continuous positive progress in China Africa cooperation, and made China Africa relations a shining beacon of solidarity and common progress for developing countries. China is vigorously building a "green channel" for African agricultural products to be exported to China, and expanding the range of African products imported under zero tariff treatment.

    Timol, Minister Counsellor of South Africa to China, said: "After the recovery of the epidemic, we have more cooperation. We also encourage trade in products with high added value, encourage Chinese enterprises to invest in South Africa, such as manufacturing, and make better use of Africa's vast natural resources.". We must work together to build effective and modern economic infrastructure that can benefit us all.

    MAKENGA, Consul General of Guangzhou, Tanzania, mentioned that Tanzania has always been ready to cooperate with enterprises from China to implement the "the Belt and Road" initiative, and we are also ready to accept some cooperation from China under the production capacity cooperation plan. As part of these initiatives, we have taken the necessary measures to make private sector development and the business environment more convenient. Government and private sector cooperation is ongoing, providing a convenient and competitive environment for businesses.

    Professor He Wenping, a researcher at the West Asia and Africa Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Chinese Academy of African Studies, said that the new round of cooperation is constantly strengthening, such as emerging countries and Africa. We now often talk about the New South, including the BRICS mechanism. The theme of the BRICS Summit held in South Africa in 2013 is very similar to today's theme, and the BRICS countries and Africa are committed to developing integration and industrialization partnerships.

    Despite the impact of the epidemic, China Africa economic and trade cooperation has strong resilience and promising prospects. New fields, innovative development, not only in the infrastructure industry, but also in clean energy and digital economy cooperation. "We mentioned in the previous Dakar Forum that the establishment of digital economy cooperation and the deepening of the digital economy have become a new engine for the economic development of African countries.".

    The organizer of this forum of Shenzhen Brand Protection and Development Promotion Association has signed contracts with four units, including Shenzhen Aerospace Industry Technology Research Institute and Shenzhen Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export.

    The following project, "China Trade Mall Overseas Warehouse Project Release", attracted widespread interest.

    The overseas warehouse of China Trade Mall is a commercial project set up under the "the Belt and Road" initiative to better pass the economic and cultural cooperation between China and Africa and follow the market-oriented principle. The purpose of the project is to become a base for Chinese enterprises to develop export-oriented economy and participate in the national economic situation in Africa. China Trade Mall can provide comprehensive and systematic solutions and one-stop services for Chinese enterprises to go global, quickly resolve internal disputes among domestic enterprises, and open up channels for domestic brands to go overseas. At the same time, we will purchase high-quality products from Africa, get to know each other deeply, and sincerely hope that we can make joint efforts with domestic brands and enterprises to go to Africa and participate in the international economic systemic circulation.

    During the summit dialogue, Zhang Guoqing, member of the outsourcing committee of the China WTO Research Association of the Ministry of Commerce and former head of the Policy Research Office of the Ministry of Commerce, pointed out that China and Africa have long-term friendly political relations and strong economic and industrial cooperation. Africa has always been the main market for China's foreign infrastructure construction, and is the second largest market for China's foreign contracted projects after Asia. The basic characteristic of Chinese enterprises in infrastructure construction in Africa is that their business is widely distributed, involving transportation, general construction, electric power engineering, petrochemical and other fields.

    Hisham Mohamed, chief economist of the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Egypt, mentioned that China launched the "the Belt and Road" initiative in 2013, and we can see a lot of Chinese investment flowing into Africa. Because China and Egypt have joined the "the Belt and Road" initiative. At the same time, as a very important core node in the initiative, Egypt has also invited Chinese experts to Africa, as Egypt has a unique import and export hub, and we have many geographical advantages. Special economic zones have also been invested in economic construction facilities, and the corresponding economic zones have grown rapidly in the past five years. We also have a zero tariff China Egypt Special Economic Zone, which has greatly increased the amount of investment and can attract investment from over 200 companies.

    Feng Ning, Minister of Foreign Cooperation Department of Shenzhen space industry Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd., pointed out that when talking about new infrastructure, new energy construction is not only an important connotation of new infrastructure itself, but also an important driver of the development of the whole new infrastructure industry. Aerospace Science and Engineering is also making use of space technology, aerospace management experience, big data and artificial intelligence to do intelligent integrated energy management. Aerospace takes advantage of our strengths and integrates them. We do not compete with anyone in a simple way, but rather hope to learn from others' strengths and help them integrate the strengths of all parties to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. As the saying goes, "All actions achieve great success" in international business. Speaking of smart energy, I also hope to make contributions to the field of new infrastructure.

    Li Yanqiu, Director of the Economic Development Committee of the Henan Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said that in addition to the long cultural history of Henan, we have the following major advantages in the field of new infrastructure: First, the transportation network extends in all directions, connecting the southeast and across the northwest. Secondly, the advantages of Henan logistics hub are very prominent. Thirdly, Henan's industrial capacity has continued to improve, and a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing and modern service industries as the theme and characteristics, based on modern agriculture, has initially formed. Fourth, Henan focuses on key industries such as equipment manufacturing, green food, new materials, electronic information, energy conservation and environmental protection, modern light textile, green building materials, automobile manufacturing, biomedicine, and modern chemical engineering. Next, we need to cooperate more closely with Secretary General Cheng, so that bilateral business can flourish and data can be improved.

    Assist in non-governmental industrial cooperation between China and Africa, promote exchanges between Chinese and African enterprises, and make more projects become bridges and ties for Chinese and African enterprises.