The  Second China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo with the theme of “New Start, New Opportunities and New Accomplishments” has recently been successfully held in Changsha, Hunan. Nearly 900 enterprises and tens of thousands of guests from China and more than 40 African countries participated in the exhibition offline and online. 135 projects were contracted at the Expo, with a cumulative amount of USD 22.9 billion.

The scale is large scale and the forms are diversified

Kevin, a Kenyan businessman, participates in the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE) for the first time as an exhibitor. At the Kenya exhibition hall in the main exhibition hall of Changsha International Convention and Exhibition Center, he, who was grinding and brewing coffee beans from his homeland, told reporters, "I hope that with this platform, more Chinese companies and consumers will get to know Kenya."

The reporter learned that compared with the first China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE), this year's exposition has more exhibitors and a larger scale, with nearly 200 African enterprises participating for the first time. In the six national pavilions of the guest of honor countries, including Algeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa, the customs and special products seem to bring the audience to the beautiful African continent. In addition, the Expo first set up a theme province to show the diversity and deep level of China-Africa cooperation.

The coffee from Ethiopian coffee, the wine from South African, the chili sauce from Rwandan…… In the China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation Promotion Innovation Demonstration Park located at Hunan Gaoqiao Grand Market, the first live streaming e-commerce festival of African products throughout the Expo allowed domestic consumers to buy African specialties at their own pace. Several supporting activities such as the first African Brand Consumption Festival were also held.

"In order to actively respond to the impact of the epidemic, the Expo adopted the mode of" focusing on offline and combining online and offline "to carefully launch the platform of the Cloud Expo." introduced Shen Yumou, Secretary of the Party Group of the Department of Commerce of Hunan Province. Among them, there are 320 online exhibitors, nearly 2,300 exhibit categories and 10.68 million visitors. With the help of well-known e-commerce platforms in Africa, the transaction volume exceeds RMB 250 million.

Practical cooperation has yielded diverse achievements

The Expo has achieved a series of substantial results in promoting China - Africa economic and trade cooperation. Hunan Road and Bridge Group has 40 years of connection with Africa. The group signed financial support agreements for infrastructure construction projects in Kenya and Benin at the special matchmaking meeting for African countries and the China-Africa Financial Cooperation Dialogue; at the China-Africa Industry Chain Cooperation Forum, the group also signed a project construction agreement with Benin Online to participate in the construction of drainage channels and related road improvement in the basins of the fourth and tenth districts of Cotonou, the economic capital of Benin. "The expo held at home opened a new window for us to enter Africa," said Wang Shufei, secretary of the Party Committee and managing director of Hunan Road and Bridge Group.

"SANY's first export order was four land scrapers sold to Morocco in 2002," said Liang Chenggen, managing director of SANY Group, at the opening ceremony of China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE). With the gradual deepening of China-Africa economic and trade relations, Chinese construction machinery enterprises such as Sany Group and Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd. have developed from traditional export sales to localized after-sales service and product localization and improvement, cultivating a team of local African talents.

At the China-Africa Lusophone Countries Fisheries and Aquatic Products Promotion Conference, Hunan Changde made a fishery industry promotion to several countries respectively. "In the past, African aquatic product processing methods were relatively traditional, and only a few countries had advanced fish processing and freezing equipment. Through the integration of the fishery industry chain, Africa is gradually forming a complete industry chain, "said Cui He, the president of the China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance (CAPPMA).

The changes that each enterprise has experienced converge into a general win-win trend of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation. Zhang Xiangchen, deputy director general of the World Trade Organization, said in a video speech at the opening ceremony that China is in the middle and late stages of industrialization, while most African countries are still in the early stages of industrialization. The mutual convergence of development stages and the common pursuit of development goals provide China-Africa economic and trade cooperation with a solid foundation and broad space.

Sound mechanisms and in-depth participation

"This time I came to the forum to find partners to build a warehouse logistics platform in Africa together." Zeng Ke, a young man from DR Congo, said at the China-Africa Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum held in Hunan Xiangjiang New Area. Yang Tao, head of Kilimall, a Chinese e-commerce company in Africa, introduced at the forum that thanks to the establishment of local warehouses in Africa, about half of the goods sold by Kilimall can be delivered to destinations the next day. As soon as the forum ends, Zeng Ke immediately found Yang Tao to discuss the possibility of future cooperation.

"We should make good use of this exchange platform to further strengthen our relationship, establish a sustainable African talent training system, and broaden new areas of Africa-China talent cooperation." said Mendo, a Cameroonian youth and the co-founder of Sino Foreign Youth Consulting Management (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

The 104-hectare hybrid rice technology demonstration base of Yuan's Seed Company Limited and HONGKONG LISHI GROUP CO., LIMITED in Jigawa State, Nigeria is currently under intense construction and operation, and will gradually drive neighboring farmers to participate in spontaneous planting through high-yield demonstration in the future. This project was included in the Collection of Case Studies on China-Africa economic and trade cooperation, which was officially released at this year's Expo. There are 49 programs selected in the Collection of Case Studies on China-Africa economic and trade cooperation, covering ten major sectors such as platform construction and agricultural cooperation, which focus on the exploration of high-quality cooperation carried out by different market entities in China and Africa, and provide reference and guidance for subsequent similar projects.

A series of new mechanisms, platforms and channels for China-Africa cooperation, such as youth dialogue, case promotion, think tank exchange, currency settlement, demonstration industrial park and new trade corridor, lay a more solid foundation for future mutually beneficial and in-depth cooperation. It is understood that Hunan Province has set up the China-Africa Economic and Trade Promotion Council to gradually build an international comprehensive China-Africa economic and trade service organization. In 2020, the China-Africa cross-border RMB Service Center was established on the basis of Hunan Free Trade Zone. The first cross-border RMB capital pool and cross-border e-commerce settlement for Africa have been handled, providing a more convenient green channel for China-Africa financial business. The construction of China-Africa international logistics channel system has been accelerated, and the Hunan-Guangdong-Africa railroad maritime multimodal transport train has been officially launched on September 15.