In 2013, despite continuous global economic sluggishness, China and Africa continued a sound momentum of growth in their economic and trade relations. The two sides now enjoy a more solid foundation and show a stronger will for cooperation, and new bright spots keep emerging in the process.

In 2013, there were frequent exchanges of high-level visits between China and Africa. The Chinese President Xi Jinping chose African continent as one of the destinations in his maiden foreign trip after assuming the presidency in March. When visiting Tanzania, he promised that China would continue to facilitate Africa’s development, “China will strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation with African countries in the fields such as agriculture and manufacturing, and help African countries to translate their advantages in resources into development advantages so as to achieve internally-driven development and sustainable development.”

Apart from President Xi Jinping, Chairman Zhang Dejiang of the National People’s Congress, Vice-Premier Liu Yandong and Vice-Premier Wang Yang also paid respective visits to Africa. On the African part, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Zambian President Michael Sata and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn visited China on different occasions. Through the exchange of visits, China and Africa have consolidated their traditional friendship and strengthened political mutual trust, laying the foundation for sustained development of economic and trade cooperation.

Talking about economic and trade cooperation, we have to mention FOCAC, by far the most important multilateral cooperation mechanism between China and Africa. In July, 2012, the fifth Ministerial Conference of FOCAC was held inBeijing, where China proposed three initiatives for its economic and trade cooperation with Africa, including expanding investment and financing cooperation, increasing development assistance to Africa and supporting Africa’s integration efforts. According to Chen Hao, deputy director of the Coordination Division of the Department of West Asian and African Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, these three initiatives have been steadily implemented in 2013.

“On expanding of investment and financing cooperation, the implementation of the US$20 billion commitment of the Chinese government has been going on smoothly, with loaning agreements focusing on the areas of infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing and SME development. On increasing development assistance to Africa, China increased its assistance to Africa in 2013, steadily implementing the programmes such as the construction of agriculture demonstration centers, Brightness Action campaigns and African talent development plan. On supporting Africa in its integration efforts, China and Africa have maintained close cooperation and conducted productive and in-depth discussions on helping Africa’s trans-border and trans-regional infrastructure construction and facilitating regional trade,” Chen said.

Trade is one important part of China-Africa economic cooperation. All the African leaders visiting China in 2013 attached strong importance to bilateral economic and trade cooperation with China. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said in his visit to China in July, “Our two countries have constantly strengthened cooperation in trade and investment, with the two-way trade exceeding US$13 billion, and China is now Nigeria’s largest trading partner.

In August, 2013, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta headed a big delegation of over 100 people to China including nearly ten government ministers such as on foreign affairs and international trade and on finance, leaders of key development departments such as the investment authority, and representatives of leading financial and business companies. He said during the visit, “I come to China to deepen the traditional partnership between our two countries and two peoples. This trip is not only about China-Kenya relations, but also about China-Africa relations. I come here against the backdrop of continuous development of China-Kenya relations and growing bilateral business cooperation. Therefore, I hope that we can work together to seek opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation. In this way, our countries, governments, businesses and ordinary people can be better involved in the efforts to pursue sustained and fast development.”

At present, China has grown into Kenya’s top source of FDI and second largest trading partner. The two-way trade between the two countries exceeded US$2.8 billion. The increase of trade volume between China and Nigeria as well as Kenya and their growing economic and trade cooperation is only one epitome of the development of China-Africa trade.

Chen Hao said that from January to October, 2013, China-Africa trade reached US$172.83 billion, up by 5.5% than that of the same period of the previous year, and the figure for the whole year of 2013 is expected to exceed US$200 billion, which will mark another record high. At the same time, bilateral trade mix has also been improved, with high value-added mechanical and electrical products as well as high-tech products approaching nearly half of China’s exports to Africa. African complete industrial products such as steel and copper products have also started to enter China’s market. By offering zero-tariff treatment to 95% of the categories of exporting products from least developed African countries such as Ethiopia, Benin and Burundi, China has opened its market wider to African countries, which has given a strong boost to African exports to China.

Apart from trade, investment is also an important part of China-Africa economic cooperation. In recent years, with the acceleration of China’s domestic industrial restructuring and African industrialization and urbanization, more and more Chinese businesses have come to Africa for development, relying on their advantages in capital and technology to develop cooperation with African countries. Chen said that from January to October, 2013, China’s non-financial direct investment to Africa totaled US$2.54 billion, up by 71.6% than that of the same period of the previous year.

“There are now over 2000 Chinese companies having set up investment businesses in Africa, covering the fields such as agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing and processing, resources development, finance, trade and real estate. The Chinese businesses also seek localized development and have hired over 80,000 local employees. The Chinese government has also introduced a host of measures to encourage Chinese businesses to invest in Africa such as by setting up the China-Africa Development Fund, creating the special loan for SME development in Africa, and establishing China-Africa economic and trade cooperation zones in African countries, all of which play an important role in facilitating Chinese businesses’ investment in Africa.”

While increasing investment in Africa, the Chinese businesses have also been actively involved in infrastructure construction on power, energy, transportation and livelihood in recent years, making impressive achievements. In June, 2013, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn spoke highly of the contribution made by Chinese engineering companies to the development of Africa during his visit to China.

He said, “Many African countries including Ethiopia have taken on a new look with the support of the Chinese capital and help of Chinese engineering companies (in infrastructure). This will undoubtedly promote trade among African countries and bring about a bigger integrated market, both internally and externally.”

As a matter of fact, China-Africa economic and trade cooperation based on mutual benefit has not only helped to improve the livelihood of the African people and promote African countries’ diversified economic development, but also provided strong support to China’s economic and social development. Africa has now become the second largest overseas contracting market for Chinese companies. Chen Hao said that from January to October, 2013, the new contractual volume for projects in Africa by Chinese businesses was US$47.01 billion, up by 22.5% than that of the same period of 2012, with a turnover of US$32.21 billion, up by 11.4%. While consolidating their traditional advantages, the Chinese businesses are extending to the upper and lower reaches of the contractual projects in Africa. They have now also been involved in the feasibility research, planning and designing for the initial stage and operation and management after the projects are completed. With the growth of China-Africa relations, we can expect the further deepening and expanding of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation and exchanges.