Participants from African countries take picture in front of the venue of the 3rd China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo that kicked off on June 29, 2023 in Changsha, Central China's Hunan Province. Photo: VCG

The third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo successfully concluded in Changsha, Central China's Hunan Province on Sunday, with fruitful achievements and with the largest participation scale and highest number in released matchmaking projects, making it a golden platform to further boost the bilateral cooperation under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). 

A total of 120 projects were signed at the expo, with a value of $10.3 billion, according to data sent to the Global Times on Sunday. Some 99 cooperation projects were announced, with a value of $8.7 billion, including 74 matchmaking projects with 11 African countries, the highest number ever. The expo attracted 1,700 foreign and over 10,000 domestic participants, making the largest attendance ever. 

Nearly 1,600 categories of goods from 29 African countries were exhibited, an increase of 166 percent over the previous edition, while the number of exhibitors recorded an increase of 70 percent over the previous edition to 1,500.  

Business executives and officials attending the expo expressed their excitement and wish to seek more potential and opportunities for various sectors ranging from agriculture to energy through the platform, which expanded trade relations between China and the African countries. 

China is willing to provide new opportunities for Africa through Chinese modernization and high-quality development, and will make the pragmatic cooperation between the two sides deeper and more solid, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng said while addressing the opening ceremony on Thursday, the Xinhua News Agency reported. Han said that China firmly supports Africa in taking an independent development path, and will advance China-Africa cooperation under the BRI, forging a closer China-Africa community with a shared future.

Namibian Ambassador to China Elia George Kaiyamo spoke highly of the BRI, emphasizing the importance of cooperation with China in infrastructure, connectivity and trade. "We are present at the expo to learn from China's best practices and explore opportunities for Chinese companies to cooperate and invest in Namibia," Kaiyamo told the Global Times.

China and Africa have great potential for cooperation, Niger's Minister of Commerce Alkache Alhada said, adding that"China's economic development is closely related to the destiny of Africa."

Nigeria has so much to offer with a wide range of areas that China can invest in, said Ezra Yakusak, chief executive officer of the Ministry of Industry, Trade & Investment of Nigerian Export Promotion Council.

For instance, Nigeria has a young workforce of about 220 million, the biggest in Africa, and this is the opportunity for China to consider investing, he said, noting that he hopes the expo could be held yearly instead of once every two years. 
China has remained Africa's biggest trading partner for 14 consecutive years. In the first five months of 2023, the bilateral trade continued the strong momentum with the total value of imports and exports topping 822.32 billion yuan ($113.37 billion), which marked a year-on-year surge of 16.4 percent. 

Business representatives from both sides meanwhile noted that they have utilized the platform to further unleash the cooperation potential in various aspects. 

Zhang Xinyu, general manager of Hunan-based Xiangfei Lianbo International Trade Company, told the Global Times that his company has just signed a deal with Niger's government to develop a large-scale Chinese industrial park, the first of its kind in the country that will be developed by the Chinese side. 

The first stage of the investment will be $100 million. The park will focus on new energy, with agricultural products processing and construction machinery also being key targets, said Zhang. 

Earlier on June 30, a representative of the Zambian trade delegation visited the booth of Hunan Jinsong Automobile Co, and showed much interest in the company's semi-trailers. The representative was seeking to actively engage in interactions with more Chinese agricultural machinery equipment manufactures for products with high quality and cost performance amid Zambia's large market demand. 

China-Africa annual trade is expected to reach $300 billion in 2035, according to the China-Africa Cooperation Vision 2035 proposed in 2021. It also noted that China will invest another $60 billion in Africa by 2035, especially in support of sectors including African agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure, environmental protection and digital economy, among others. 

Chinese experts highlighted the expo as an indispensible channel to continuously boost the China-Africa trade flows under the BRI while further strengthening people-to-people bonds. The expo set up an exhibition on the achievements of China-Africa high-quality BRI cooperation for the first time on the 10th anniversary of the initiative. 

The expo also offered a major platform to showcase African products to Chinese consumers while allowing more local suppliers and enterprises to come and pursue cooperation opportunities with the Chinese counterparts, Song Wei, a professor at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Song noted that the expo also played as a significant role in further attracting investment from Chinese companies to Africa, which is beneficial to help revive the African economies after the COVID-19 epidemic. 

He Wenping, director of the African Studies Section at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, echoed Song, noted that the rapid development of the e-commerce platforms also advanced the trade cooperation and facilitation. 

The expo also enhanced the people-to-people bonds, He told the Global Times on Sunday, adding that many African friends she knows joined the expo, aiming to explore more business potential.