General

Yesterday, the high-end Seminar on China Africa International Trade and economic cooperation with the theme of "innovation and exploration, in-depth cooperation" was held in Changsha, Hunan Province. This seminar is one of the important activities under the third China Africa economic and Trade Expo. Representatives of Chinese and African governments, local governments, think tanks, enterprises, financial institutions and international organizations gathered together to carry out in-depth exchanges and discussions, so as to contribute wisdom and strength to deepening practical cooperation in the field of International trade and economy between China and Africa and steadily promoting the construction of a pilot area for China Africa economic and trade cooperation.

As one of the important areas of cooperation, the construction of the pilot zone for in-depth economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa is an important means to promote the in-depth development of China Africa International Trade and economic cooperation. At present, it has achieved phased results, opened up a new growth point of China Africa economic and trade cooperation, and formed the "Hunan model" of China's local economic and trade cooperation with Africa.

Duyingfen, counsellor of the State Council, said in the keynote speech that the pilot zone of China Africa deep economic and trade cooperation urgently needs to activate its potential and innovate its mode. She put forward several suggestions, including implementing a breakthrough in the reform and opening up of the core area, and creating a four in one development pattern of internal and external trade, processing and warehousing, logistics distribution, and online and offline in the pilot free trade zone; Establish the China Africa high-end economic and trade think tank alliance and normalization forum mechanism; Establishment of project bank for African countries; Promote the new mode of barter trade; Explore the warehouse to warehouse free trade mechanism to promote China Africa trade; Build a new mechanism for Africa's industrialization that combines agriculture and industry and interacts with trade and investment; Strengthen the cooperation on non regulatory rules, focus on the institutional openness of rules, regulations, management and standards, and build a standard Center for China Africa economic and trade cooperation.

ZhouXiaoYan, vice president of the China Council for the promotion of international investment, said that in recent years, China has been expanding the channels for African products to enter the Chinese market and supporting the export of African products to China through trade financing and trade facilitation measures. From the perspective of cooperation fields, the field of China Africa International Trade and economic cooperation has been continuously extended from traditional trade and engineering construction to emerging fields such as digital, green, finance, aerospace and so on. Chinese enterprises have actively participated in the construction of digital infrastructure in Africa and promoted the rapid development of e-commerce, mobile payment, media entertainment and other industries in Africa. Africa has a strong desire for development and good prospects for development. However, it should also be noted that the development of trade and investment in Africa is affected by some adverse factors, such as backward infrastructure, low development level of e-commerce and financial services. In the next step, the two sides should continue to strengthen cooperation in infrastructure, connectivity, smooth trade, industrial investment and other fields. At the same time, they should grasp new demands and trends and promote cooperation in industrial upgrading, digital economy and financial services.

Cross border e-commerce has brought new opportunities for China Africa International Trade and economic cooperation. A variety of African agricultural products and foods, such as red wine from South Africa, coffee from Ethiopia, chili sauce from Rwanda, black tea from Kenya, chocolate from Ghana, cashew nuts from Tanzania, have entered the Chinese market through new types of trade such as cross-border e-commerce.

In Yang Tao's view, the development of China's cross-border e-commerce enterprises in Africa should pay attention to the cultivation of African e-commerce talents and support African young people's entrepreneurship. "In the past 10 years, we have realized that the biggest constraint on the development of e-commerce in Africa is not infrastructure, not capital, but talents, especially local e-commerce and logistics talents in Africa. At the same time, we should also pay attention to and increase investment in e-commerce and e-commerce infrastructure in Africa, especially the establishment of overseas warehouses in Africa. We look forward to further strengthening e-commerce and digital economy cooperation between China and Africa to create a better life for China and Africa."