Joint Development and Shared Future Expo | Cooperation | Africa

In the midsummer season, in Changsha, Hunan, people welcome batches of African guests from afar with the most sincere enthusiasm. On June 29th, the third China Africa Economic and Trade Expo will be grandly held here.

The theme of this expo is "seeking common development and sharing the future". As the opening date approaches, various preparatory work is progressing in an orderly manner. Recently, reporters visited the main and branch exhibition halls of this year's expo, as well as related enterprises, to experience up close the fruitful results of China Africa cooperation, as well as the new highlights and atmosphere of this expo.

All parties actively participated in the conference

Unprecedented exhibition scale

To meet the exhibition and display needs of all participants, the Expo has a main exhibition hall and a sub exhibition hall. At present, the exhibition setup work is being carried out intensively.

The main exhibition hall located in Changsha International Convention and Exhibition Center has set up "six halls and one area", with an exhibition area of 100000 square meters. It is reported that the expo will focus on showcasing African specialty goods such as red wine, coffee, and handicrafts, as well as Chinese engineering machinery, medical equipment, daily necessities, and agricultural machinery and equipment. In Hall W1 of the main exhibition hall, exhibition staff are carrying out exterior structural construction on the exhibition areas of central enterprises such as China COSCO Shipping Group Co., Ltd. and China General Technology Holdings Co., Ltd.

"This central enterprise exhibition area, covering an area of 2240 square meters, will showcase new concepts, measures, and achievements in cooperation with Africa through various forms such as graphics and text, videos, physical sand tables, and digital multimedia." said Zhang Liang, General Manager of the Exhibition Engineering Department of Ximai International Exhibition Co., Ltd., who is responsible for exhibition arrangement.

The sub exhibition hall is located in the China Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation Promotion Innovation Demonstration Park in Gaoqiao Market. The reporter saw at the scene that a dazzling array of African products had filled up the theme exhibition halls of African countries.

Jiang Shoufang, Executive Vice General Manager of Hunan Gaoqiao Market Co., Ltd., introduced that in early June, the layout of the permanent exhibition hall was adjusted, and the exhibition halls of 8 countries including Benin and Congo were moved to more prominent positions to better match the commercial elements of the 8 guest countries showcased at this Expo. "Unlike previous editions, we have entrusted the vast majority of theme venues to African business associations for operation, hoping to better leverage the commercial functions of the venues."

As of June 26th, 53 African countries that have established diplomatic relations, 12 international organizations, 30 provinces, regions, and cities, as well as more than 1700 central and local enterprises, business associations, and financial institutions, have registered to attend the conference.

All parties actively participated in the exhibition, with an unprecedented scale of participation. Since the first batch of inbound exhibition products completed customs clearance procedures on June 19th and arrived at the Changsha International Convention and Exhibition Center, various types of exhibition products from African countries have been arriving one after another and being transported to the exhibition hall for exhibition.

According to Changsha Customs, compared to the previous two sessions of the China Africa Economic and Trade Expo, the number and types of foreign exhibitors and exhibits at this expo have significantly increased. As of June 26th, 1590 exhibits from 29 countries have registered for exhibition, an increase of 165.9% compared to the previous edition.

Implementation of previous achievements

Continuous deepening of cooperation

In recent years, with the implementation of previous achievements, the China Africa Economic and Trade Expo has become an important platform for promoting cooperation between China and Africa.

Since 2007, China has been cooperating with Madagascar on hybrid rice technology. Among them, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences took the lead and Hunan Yuanshi Seed Industry High tech Co., Ltd. participated in the construction of the earliest batch of agricultural technology demonstration center projects. Afterwards, Yuan's Seed Industry deeply participated in the aid to non-agricultural projects.

This type of agricultural project cooperation has been further accelerated under the promotion of the China Africa Economic and Trade Expo. At the 2019 and 2021 China Africa Economic and Trade Expo, Yuan's Seed Industry signed hybrid rice cooperation agreements with relevant departments and enterprises in Madagascar, Nigeria, Angola and other countries to help African countries solve food supply problems.

Nowadays, various cooperation agreements between China and Africa have gradually come into effect. A modern agricultural technology team and planting and processing system have been established in a 40 hectare high-yield demonstration training base in Nigeria. In the past three years, the grain yield of the demonstration base has increased to over 7 tons per hectare.

Not only in agricultural cooperation, but also in areas such as processing and manufacturing, economic and trade parks, infrastructure, aerospace, green development, digital economy, healthcare, and social livelihood. With the China Africa Economic and Trade Expo as a platform, bilateral economic and trade cooperation is constantly deepening in all aspects.

"We have established subsidiaries in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and other places, and joint venture factories in Algeria," said Wu Weiheng, Deputy General Manager of Zoomlion Overseas Company. With the increasingly perfect market layout, Zoomlion's engineering machinery and equipment such as lifting machinery, earth moving machinery, concrete machinery, and construction lifting machinery have fully entered the African market. Only wheeled tractors have accumulated sales of over 4000 units, with a total amount of about 800 million yuan.

"We have permanent branches in more than 30 African countries, with over 18000 units of equipment in Africa, and we are deeply promoting infrastructure construction in Africa." The relevant person in charge of Sany Group stated that at the third China Africa Economic and Trade Expo, Sany Heavy Industry, a subsidiary of the group, will also showcase 15 electrified and intelligent products.

At present, the China Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation Innovation Demonstration Park focuses on promoting the construction of the African non resource product industry chain, supporting and guiding park enterprises to establish a full industry chain system for African non resource products. Six industry chains, including coffee, cashew, summer magnolia, cocoa, dried chili peppers, and sesame, have been preliminarily formed. In 2022, the park achieved a trade volume with Africa of 3.27 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 325%.

Expand the breadth of communication

Innovation cooperation mechanism

In the field of economic and trade exchanges at this year's Expo, many enterprises will make their debut and first exhibition.

Starting from 2021, Kefu Medical Technology Co., Ltd. has started expanding into the African market and participated in the China Africa Economic and Trade Expo for the first time this year, hoping to further expand exchanges and cooperation with African customers. "We will set up a 180 square meter special booth in the main exhibition hall this year, covering five categories of products: health monitoring, rehabilitation aids, respiratory support, medical care, and traditional Chinese medicine therapy, totaling over a hundred products," said Xiong Wei, Director of the company's Strategic Development Department.

Hunan Yinlang Sports Co., Ltd., which produces professional football equipment, will customize clothing and football with Chinese cultural elements for all African delegations participating in the exhibition for the first time, expanding the brand's visibility and international influence in African countries. During the expo, the company will also invite African merchants to visit the factory in Loudi, Hunan for inspection and exchange, in order to seek more cooperation opportunities.

This year's Expo will continue until July 2nd, during which the opening ceremony and China Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum will be held, including 9 high-end activities, 7 economic and trade docking events, 3 special seminars, and 13 local special events. These activities cover areas such as green infrastructure, customs quarantine, medicine and health, agricultural products, light industry and textiles, industrial parks, women and youth, vocational education, etc. Nearly 20 achievements will also be released, including the China Africa Economic and Trade Relations Report and the China Africa Trade Index.

It is worth noting that this year's China Africa Economic and Trade Fair will, for the first time, set up high-end activities jointly sponsored by national ministries and agencies, and set up a high-quality exhibition area for the achievements of China Africa joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" and an exhibition for the achievements of China Africa women's innovation and entrepreneurship.

Using the China Africa Economic and Trade Expo as a link to form a new model of trade with Africa. China supports enterprises to engage in 12 one-on-one barter trades with four African countries, exchanging seeds, kitchenware, building materials, and energy storage equipment for grapefruit, mica, spodumene, and wood; Set up overseas warehouses in wholesaler gathering areas in African countries, and carry out secondary wholesale through a "pre exhibition and post warehouse" model to promote the entry of "Made in China" products into Africa.

With the deepening of a series of activities, this Expo will continue to explore new measures, expand the depth and breadth of cooperation, and comprehensively promote China Africa economic and trade cooperation to a new level.