In the morning of October 24th, the 3rd China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation & Development Shaoxing Summit was held with online and offline methods. Nearly 300 people gathered in Shaoxing city to attend the summit to discuss plans for cooperation and development, including representatives of African Union, ambassadors to China from African countries, delegation officials like consul general, representatives of African entrepreneurs, heads of the Ministry of Commerce, heads of the Department of Commerce of Zhejiang Province, experts, scholars and domestic entrepreneurs.
According to the summit, China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation & Development Shaoxing Summit had been held for 3 three years and had become an important platform for Shaoxing to expand it’s opening-up to Africa and to enhance it’s cooperation with Africa. In recent years, Shaoxing and Africa’s trade and economic cooperation had been closer and closer on a daily bases because of annually increasing export to Africa and expanding double-direction investment, so Africa had became a popular destination for Chinese enterprises in it’s “going out” as well as an important market for Shaoxing’s foreign trade. Shaoxing would spend more effort to build it’s platform and improve it’s high-level dialogue, people-to-people communication and trade and economic cooperation, so as to push it’s cooperation with Africa to progress in more aspects and with deeper level; to make Shaoxing the first option for China-Africa investment and trade cooperation as well as tourism and cultural cooperation and to make more contribution to build a more closely connected China-Africa community with a shared future.
It’s said in the summit that Shaoxing boasted firm economic foundation, profound culture and high opening-up level. The last 5 years saw an 15% increasing rate of the import and export of Shaoxing and Africa, increasing double-direction investment, 28 African enterprise investing in Shaoxing and Shaoxing’s investment covering 21 African countries. Shaoxing was expected to seize the opportunities of the “belt and road” initiative; to see the construction of the international and domestic “duel circulation” as a start and to continuously innovate investment form and field, so as to lift the trade and economic cooperation with African countries to a new level.
African representatives said that in the last 20 years, the value of China-Africa trade increased 20 times and China had been the largest trade partner for Africa for 11 consecutive years. The establishment of AfCFTA would bring more opportunities and convenience to the investment of the international society. The industrialization, urbanization and agricultural modernization had been sending signals of great market demand, so they hope that there would be more connection with Shaoxing and that there would be more cooperation achievement in trade, economy, sanitary, education, cultural, tourism and so on.
Chen Jian, Chinese former vice minister of commerce, said that Shaoxing boasted firm economic foundation, profound culture, high-level opening-up and close trade and economic connection with African countries. In the past five years, Shaoxing’s annual increasing rate of import and export had remained 15% and double-direction investment had been developing with a rapid speed. Africa had been one of China’s most important economic and trade partner as well as an important participator of the “belt and road” initiative. Chen Jian said that he expected that Shaoxing would size the construction opportunities of the “belt and road” initiative, expand cooperative fields and lift the trade and economic cooperation with African countries to a new level.
Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed, prime minister of Djibouti, said that Shaoxing and Djibouti had a sound bilateral trade relationship. He believed that there would be wider, tenser and more diversified cooperation. He also invited enterprises from Shaoxing to invest in Djibouti. Both sides could created a cooperation community and became driving forces for global economy.
According to a Chinese poem, friendship saw no boundary of distance, so you could feel it even if your friend was thousands of miles away. China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation & Development Shaoxing Summit had been held for 3 consecutive years and had became an important platform for Shaoxing to expand it’s cooperation to Africa and to enhance it’s China-Africa cooperation.
Shaoxing situated in the south part of the Yangtze River delta. It’s a city with thriving foreign trade. Sheng Yuechun, mayor and deputy secretary of Shaoxing, said that the city would spend more effort to build a cooperation platform; to improve the platform for high-level dialogue, economic and trade cooperation and people-to-people communication; to improve mutual trust and understanding and to promote the cooperation between Shaoxing and Africa to develop towards more fields and a deeper level.
“The summit offers a good platform for China-Africa dialogue.” said Mr. Mamadou Ndiaye, Senegalese ambassador to China. He also said that more market demand were created by the industrialization, urbanization and agricultural modernization. He expected that they could find more fields for cooperation and that more achievements could be made in terms of trade, economy, sanitary, education, culture and tourism.
In the opening ceremony held the unveiling ceremony of the “China-Africa Yangtze Delta Research Institute”. Shaoxing CCPIT and Uganda Embassy in China; Shaoxing University and Institute of New Structural Economics of Peking University as well as Shaoxing Open Economy Service Alliance and cooperative institutes signed cooperation agreements respectively. Institute of New Structural Economics of Peking University established “Policy Report to Enhance the Cooperation of Production Capacity Between Shaoxing and Africa”. After the opening ceremony, a keynote speech was delivered.
During the summit held events including China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum, exchanges between Chinese and African entrepreneurs, trade, economic and cultural research and so on.