Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, November 29 (Reporter Xie Xiyao) Gao Yan, Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said at the 7th China-Africa Entrepreneurs Conference on the 29th that the Chinese and African business communities are working hard to overcome the dual impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic and the global economic downturn. China-Africa economic and trade cooperation has bucked the trend, the trade volume has reached the highest level in the same period in history, and investment cooperation has achieved rapid development.
The China-Africa Entrepreneurs Conference is an important supporting economic and trade event under the framework of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum, and is the highest-level dialogue and exchange mechanism between the Chinese and African business communities.
The main venue of the conference was held in Beijing and held online and offline. Representatives from the political and business circles of China and Africa conducted in-depth discussions on topics such as deepening trade and investment cooperation, promoting industrialization and digital development, accelerating post-epidemic economic recovery, and promoting sustainable development.
In the 20 years since the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China-Africa trade volume and China's direct investment stock in Africa have increased by 20 times and 100 times, respectively. Under the influence of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, they are still growing against the trend.
In a video speech, Vice Minister of Commerce Ren Hongbin said that the scale of China-Africa trade continues to expand, reaching US$187 billion in 2020, and new forms and models of foreign trade such as cross-border e-commerce are booming; Chinese enterprises’ direct investment in Africa continues to grow, and a number of China-Africa Major infrastructure and people's livelihood projects such as railways and electric power jointly implemented by enterprises have been completed and put into operation.
Gao Yan introduced that on the one hand, the Chinese business community actively supports and organizes the resumption of work and production in African-invested companies to help Africa ensure the stability of the industrial chain and supply chain, and promote the recovery of the African economy; on the other hand, it is deeply integrated into the development and changes of the African market and participates in the process of African industrialization. , Actively invest in infrastructure, digital economy and other fields to help African countries improve their independent development capabilities and industrial development levels, and inject new impetus into the sustainable development of Africa.
In 2018, the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation was successfully held, leading China-Africa economic, trade and investment cooperation into a new stage of development.
Ren Hongbin said that in the past three years, 46 African countries and the African Union Commission have signed cooperation agreements with China to jointly build the "Belt and Road", and cooperation mechanisms such as "Silk Road E-commerce" have also been actively promoted.
China attaches great importance to the top-level design and strategic leading role of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, promotes the high-quality implementation of the “Eight Major Actions” of the Beijing Summit, and puts in place a supporting fund of 60 billion U.S. dollars, and the results have widely benefited the people of China and Africa.
Ren Hongbin said that China will continue to provide vaccines and anti-epidemic material assistance to African countries in need, guide companies to develop vaccine production cooperation in African countries, strengthen communication and coordination with African countries, and promote various investment facilitation arrangements; strengthen cooperation with African countries Strategic alignment, enhance the pertinence and timeliness of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation policies; actively participate in the development of Africa's green economy circular economy, and make green the background of China-Africa joint construction of the "Belt and Road"; support Chinese and African enterprises through trade and investment, etc. Improve the level of cooperation in shipping, aviation, railways, highways and other fields, and strengthen cooperation in the construction of logistics infrastructure information.