Consolidate New Wisdom In Sino African Economic And Trade Cooperation, And Promote A New Journey Of High-quality Development Between China And Africa

China Africa economic and trade cooperation is in a critical period of transformation, upgrading, quality improvement, and efficiency enhancement. Against the backdrop of the century long changes and the resonance of the century long pandemic, how to promote high-quality and deep cooperation in China Africa economic and trade has become an important topic that urgently needs to be explored and studied. On September 24th, the third China Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation Yuelu Forum was held in Changsha. The forum is themed on "High quality development of China Africa's economic and trade in the new era". Experts, scholars, and representatives of entrepreneurs gathered at the foot of Yuelu Mountain to express their insights and contribute wisdom and solutions to the development of China Africa's economic and trade in an "online+offline" manner.

Xie Chi, Vice President of Hunan University, presided over the opening ceremony of the forum. Lai Mingyong, Vice Chairman of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Wang Xuekun, Chinese Ambassador to Rwanda, Li Xinqiu, Deputy Director of the Hunan Provincial Department of Commerce, and Deng Wei, President of the China Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation Research Institute and Secretary of the Hunan University Party Committee, delivered speeches respectively. This forum consists of two sections: the keynote forum and the thematic forum, with the thematic forum divided into three sections: "Deep Cooperation in the China Africa Economic and Trade Region", "Deep Cooperation in the China Africa Economic and Trade Field", and "Entrepreneur Roundtable Dialogue". We are now excerpting relevant speeches from participating experts to entertain readers.

Researcher Yu Zirong, Vice President of the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, delivered a keynote speech titled "Further Promoting the High Quality Development of China Africa's Economic and Trade", stating that in the context of century long changes and the intertwined global epidemic, China Africa's economic and trade cooperation has shown strong resilience, but at the same time, it also faces deeper problems: firstly, private enterprises are an important force in the market entities of economic and trade cooperation with Africa, But still in a neglected and marginalized position; Secondly, the competition among Chinese enterprises in contracting projects in Africa has intensified, and the lack of long-term operational support for the extensive model has become a prominent weakness; Thirdly, Chinese enterprises lack sufficient depth of investment and development in Africa, and their social image urgently needs to be improved; Fourthly, China's trade surplus with Africa continues to expand, with exports to Africa mainly focused on consumer goods and the import path of agricultural products being blocked, which is not conducive to the sustainable development of China Africa's economy and trade. Based on the above questions, he proposed four suggestions: firstly, to strengthen the market orientation of China Africa economic and trade cooperation; The second is to enhance the integration level of "investment construction operation" in infrastructure cooperation between China and Africa; Thirdly, strengthen the guidance of China's deep integration and development of investment in Africa; The fourth is to further address the structural challenges of trade imbalance between China and Africa, and maintain the overall sustainable development of trade between China and Africa. Finally, he proposed that Hunan Province should fully leverage the role of the two platforms of the Expo and the Pilot Zone, promote the development of new forms of trade between China and Africa through institutional and institutional innovation, lead and drive the development of national economic and trade cooperation with Africa, and serve the transformation and upgrading of economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa.

Professor Luo Lin, Dean of the Institute of Country and Regional Studies at Beijing Language and Culture University, and Director of the Secretariat for Country and Regional Studies at Universities, delivered a keynote speech titled "Strengthening the Construction of Regional Country Disciplines in Universities and Assisting in the Cultivation of China Africa Economic and Trade Composite Talents". He believes that over the past half century, the scale of China Africa economic and trade cooperation has been continuously expanding, investment cooperation has been continuously upgrading, and people's livelihood cooperation has been comprehensively expanded. In future development, we should further promote the high-quality development of China Africa economic and trade cooperation, so that it can provide more positive energy for defending international multilateralism and free trade. The unprecedented changes in a century have provided new development opportunities for regional and national research. Currently, domestic African research has begun to take shape, forming a distinctive African research academic community that integrates talent cultivation, academic research, cultural exchanges, and advisory services. He proposed three suggestions on how regional country studies can promote China Africa economic and trade cooperation: firstly, regional country studies should serve national policy formulation, help enterprises grasp overseas information, and improve their survival ability; The second is to conduct in-depth regional and country studies to interpret international market rules and order, help enterprises comply with the global contract, strengthen personnel training, and improve their adaptability; Thirdly, regional and country studies help enterprises understand international laws and regulations, protect their overseas interests, and enhance their ability to respond to challenges and prevent risks by assessing the international environment and risks.

Professor Liu Hongwu, Dean of the African Studies Institute at Zhejiang Normal University, delivered a keynote speech titled "Strong Politics, Strong Economy and Trade, Deep Humanities: A Discussion on the Zhejiang Model of Local Cooperation with Africa in China". He stated that as China Africa cooperation continues to deepen and strengthen, local governments have actively responded, forming a provincial-level characteristic of cooperation with Africa. In recent years, Hunan's cooperation with Africa has shown outstanding performance and a good development trend. The field of economic and trade is a key focus of Zhejiang's cooperation with Africa, and in recent years, it has accumulated certain development experience. Firstly, it is "politically strong". Zhejiang Province attaches great importance to national strategic deployment and creates six major government guarantee mechanisms, including factor guarantee, security guarantee, think tank guarantee, and publicity guarantee, to serve China Africa cooperation; The second is "economic and trade cooperation". Zhejiang Province's economic and trade cooperation with Africa is oriented towards efficiency, actively playing the role of private enterprises as the main force, and promoting Zhejiang's economic and trade cooperation with Africa towards a sustainable development path based on the principle of market mutual benefit; The third is the "deep humanities". Zhejiang has a good public opinion foundation for cooperation with Africa, and actively plays the role of the cultural industry in promoting cooperation between China and Africa. He believes that political mutual trust, economic and trade cooperation, and cultural exchanges are the relationships between fish ponds, fish, and water. To grow fish, they need fish ponds but cannot do without the nourishment of water. Based on this, he proposed the following suggestions for Hunan Province's economic and trade cooperation with Africa: firstly, to utilize Hunan Province's advantages to strengthen professional, interdisciplinary, and national research, attach importance to case analysis, and explore the "Hunan story" of the African continent; Secondly, highlight the characteristics of Hunan Province's cooperation with Africa, increase cooperation with media and think tanks from African countries, and consolidate the "cultural foundation" of Hunan's cooperation with African people; The third is to attach importance to the introduction of human resources for African research, promote the mutual construction of think tanks in the African field, and strengthen the "hard investment" in African research fields.

Researcher Yao Guimei, Director of the South African Research Center of the Chinese Academy of African Studies, delivered a keynote speech titled "Analysis of the Challenges and Prospects of China Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation". Researcher Yao Guimei believes that while China Africa economic and trade cooperation demonstrates its effectiveness and resilience, it also faces risks such as political instability and policy changes in African countries. Against the backdrop of the complex international environment for cooperation with Africa, major powers continue to heat up competition in Africa, and China's cooperation with Africa still faces structural problems. Challenges such as the counter current of globalization, the COVID-19, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict cannot change the internal momentum of deepening cooperation between China and Africa, but highlight Africa's important position in China's economic diplomacy, and further promote China Africa economic and trade cooperation and accelerate transformation and upgrading. Based on this, she has put forward several opinions at the government and enterprise levels to promote the high-quality development of China Africa economic and trade cooperation. Among them, the government level mainly includes suggestions such as tilting towards livelihood projects, advancing towards related industries such as new energy and energy storage in Africa, participating in African integration construction, deepening financial cooperation, coordinating cooperation and security, continuing to explore the "China Africa+third-party cooperation model", and creating open and multi-dimensional cooperation methods with Africa. The suggestions at the enterprise level mainly include the need for various service-oriented institutions to join and assist, good policy interpretation, strengthening risk prevention and control, purchasing overseas investment and operation insurance, and strengthening enterprise compliance management and construction.

Professor Tang Xiaoyang, Director of the Department of International Relations at Tsinghua University, delivered a keynote speech titled "The African Bond Crisis and Its Impact on China Africa Cooperation". International bonds are an important channel for developing countries to provide external financing. From 2023 to 2025, African countries will experience the first peak of international bond repayment, and it is necessary to have an accurate understanding of the bond crisis. On the one hand, it is necessary to distinguish between debt crises and bond crises, and to be aware of the serious threat that bond crises pose to developing countries, while maintaining a clear understanding of African debt and misleading public opinion; On the other hand, the market-oriented behavior based on the financial systems of developed countries has many uncertainties for small and weak developing economies. The pro cyclical market-oriented behavior of issuing European bonds amplifies the economic fluctuations of developing countries and has a sustained adverse impact on African economic development. He believes that China's economic and trade cooperation with Africa should focus on the long-term and stable development of the economies of developing countries, and create an international financing environment conducive to sustainable development. Specific suggestions include: firstly, recognizing the serious harm of international bonds, and jointly calling for preventive measures rather than remedial measures by international organizations such as the IMF and the World Bank; Secondly, strengthen guidance on the use of funds in international coordination, so that more funds can be used for productive projects that create sustained returns; Thirdly, encourage the diversification of currency issuance and effectively diversify exchange rate risks; The fourth is to improve long-term rating mechanisms and market warning models suitable for developing countries.

Professor Huang Meibo, Dean of the International Development Cooperation Research Institute at Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, delivered a keynote speech titled "Exploring Marketization Solutions to African Sovereign Debt Issues - The Significance of the Brady Plan for Reference". She first analyzed the severity of Africa's debt crisis and the characteristics of its creditors, analyzing the main sources of Africa's sovereign debt, namely international financial institutions, bilateral government loans, and bond financing in international financial markets. Next, she mentioned that the current measures taken by the international community to solve Africa's debt problems are mainly the G20 Suspended Debt Service Initiative (DSSI) and the Common Framework for Debt Management, with the main participants being official creditors of both sides, in which China has played an important role. In addition to participating in bilateral official debt relief and debt restructuring, China can also explore market-oriented solutions to its debt problems with some developing countries. The Brady Plan has certain reference significance for solving the debt problems between China and Africa. Whether China can use the Brady approach to solve the debt problems with African countries mainly depends on the following four aspects: firstly, the coordinating and guiding role of the Chinese government in debt restructuring; The second is the acceptance of the "Chinese version" Brady bonds by the international financial market; Third, the support of international financial institutions for China's debt restructuring program; The fourth is the degree of cooperation among African debtor countries.

Professor Tang Lixia, Vice Dean of the School of International Development and Global Agriculture at China Agricultural University, delivered a keynote speech titled "African Agriculture and Sino African Agricultural Cooperation". She first described and analyzed the current situation of agriculture and rural areas in Africa, pointing out that the main reasons for low agricultural productivity in Africa include low levels of farmland irrigation, insufficient use of fertilizers, low utilization rate of improved varieties, low level of agricultural mechanization, and weak financial support capacity of African governments for agriculture. At present, small farmers' agriculture, mainly composed of families, remains the mainstay of African agriculture, but gradually presents characteristics of alienation and diversification in business trips, providing a good foundation for agricultural cooperation between China and Africa. She believes that under the framework of the Forum on China Africa Cooperation, China Africa agricultural cooperation has entered a new chapter. Based on the similar agricultural characteristics of Africa and China, China Africa agricultural cooperation is gradually aligning with Africa's own development, moving from aid to comprehensive cooperation. In the future, China Africa agricultural cooperation should focus on addressing sudden agricultural risks and natural disasters, paying attention to the special problems of different African countries, and emphasizing research on rural governance issues in African countries, in order to promote China Africa agricultural cooperation to a new level.

He Liehui, Vice President of the China African People's Friendship Association and Chairman of Dazhi Road International Holdings Group, delivered a keynote speech titled "Economic and Trade Prospects for the Horn of East Africa after the Epidemic". He believes that the COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on East Africa. On the one hand, the epidemic itself has caused loss of life and significant psychological impact on local society, and epidemic prevention and control measures have also consumed a large amount of funds from East African countries; On the other hand, the global epidemic has to some extent restricted the flow of international capital to East Africa. In addition, affected by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, international food aid to Africa has been seriously hindered. In this context, although many countries in East Africa have lifted epidemic control, their economic recovery rate is relatively slow. In addition, he further expressed that in Djibouti, he could personally feel the strong desire of the local people to see the epidemic recede and Chinese enterprises return to Africa on a large scale. He also stated that East Africa is a hot spot for economic development in Africa, and suggested that Chinese enterprises seize the opportunity for urgent economic recovery in Africa after the epidemic to enter the East African market while reasonably avoiding risks.

Professor Xiao Hao, Executive Secretary General of the China Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation Research Institute and Vice Dean of the School of Economics and Trade at Hunan University, delivered a keynote speech titled "High quality development of China Africa economic and trade cooperation under uncertain conditions". Professor Xiao Hao stated that although China Africa economic and trade cooperation has broad prospects, it still faces the "four major" uncertain factors that affect China Africa economic and trade cooperation: firstly, the instability of political relations, manifested by internal political turmoil in Africa and the transformation of political layout in various countries around the world towards Africa; The second is the unsustainable economic growth, with low levels of internal circulation and insufficient external circulation in Africa, which has not yet entered a stable growth path; Thirdly, there is a lack of familiarity with cultural laws and policies, resulting in significant cultural, legal, and policy differences among African countries, and insufficient research on African countries in China; Fourthly, the fragility of the influence of major power games, the direct impact of major power struggles, and the passive impact of international conflict spillovers have brought great pressure to China Africa supply chain cooperation. In order to solve the uncertain problems faced by China Africa's economic and trade, he believes that from the perspective of coordinated development and security, we should follow the basic logic of "taking win-win cooperation as the premise, combining comparative advantages, and reducing the uncertainty of China Africa's economic and trade cooperation", and focus on seeking breakthroughs in the high-quality development of China Africa's economic and trade from aspects such as bilateral political relations between China and Africa, aid to Africa, and agricultural and digital economic cooperation.

Deep cooperation in the Sino African economic and trade region

Xu Xiangping, Counselor of the Hunan Provincial People's Government and President of the Hunan China Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation Promotion Research Association, delivered a keynote speech titled "Overall Situation and Future Direction of Hunan's Economic and Trade Cooperation with Africa". He stated that five national measures, including the China Africa Economic and Trade Expo, the China Africa Free Trade Zone, the China Africa Deep Economic and Trade Cooperation Pilot Zone, the Barter Trade Pilot Zone, and the Cross border RMB Center for Africa, have been settled in Hunan. Two national measures, including the China Africa Technical Trade Measures Research and Evaluation Base and the China Africa Economic and Trade Arbitration Center, are about to be settled in Hunan; Hunan's economic and trade cooperation with Africa has achieved significant results, which can be summarized as "promoting the basic formation of the system, taking shape in the construction of core areas, rapid growth in foreign trade, accelerating the construction of the logistics system for Africa, and accelerating the formation of a market-oriented service system"; In recent years, Hunan's trade and investment in Africa has doubled, ranking eighth in the country and first in the central region, showing a thriving situation. In the new era, especially in today's complex international environment, the research task of cooperation between China and Africa is very challenging. According to the "Special Plan for the Pilot Zone of China (Hunan) Free Trade Zone for Deep Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Africa", we will build an African non resource product distribution and processing center, an African economic and trade promotion center, a China Africa economic and trade research and exchange center, and a China Africa cross-border RMB center Research breakthroughs will be made in six key tasks, including the international logistics supply chain between China and Africa and the pilot program for barter trade.

Wang Jiang, Deputy Secretary General of the China Africa Civil Chamber of Commerce, delivered a keynote speech titled "China Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation from the Perspective of the Supply Chain". He believes that the African supply chain has certain investment potential, but it is still affected by factors such as disease epidemics, regional conflicts, logistics disruptions, and geopolitical events. Based on this, combined with the content of the "2022 Report on Chinese Enterprise Investment in Africa", eight suggestions are proposed for the development of African supply chains: firstly, to address tariff and non-tariff barriers and promote regional economic development in Africa; Secondly, accelerate the localization of energy mining and processing, and increase the added value of products; Thirdly, improve the quality of infrastructure in the mainland and sub regions, and enhance intra regional trade; Fourth, promote the development of local manufacturing in Africa, especially in the field of public health; Fifth, integrate overseas and local enterprises in the supply chain to form strong complementarity; Sixth, prioritize the construction of labor training centers to promote more local participation; Seven is to provide diverse financing methods for African companies to narrow the funding gap; Eight is to provide more digital solutions to empower the growth of African supply chains.

Professor Liu Jisen, Executive Dean of the African Studies Institute at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies and Business, delivered a keynote speech titled "Guangdong Practice of Sino African Economic and Trade Cooperation". He stated that Guangdong Africa economic and trade cooperation has five major characteristics, including: firstly, actively expanding the establishment of industrial parks in African countries; Secondly, private enterprises play the leading role; Thirdly, the investment industry covers a wide range of industries, mainly including light industry, power equipment, building materials, new infrastructure, digital economy, agriculture, etc; Fourthly, Guangdong Africa economic and trade cooperation has a two-way nature; The fifth is the linkage between provinces and cities. Regarding the prospects for Guangdong Africa economic and trade cooperation, he expressed the need to promote the integration of Guangdong's manufacturing industry with African industrialization; Secondly, promote the "Poverty Reduction and Benefiting the People Project" of China Africa cooperation, and accelerate the transfer of agricultural technology from Guangdong to Africa; Thirdly, we will promote the "Capacity Enhancement Project" of China Africa cooperation and vigorously develop vocational and technical education; The fourth is to promote the digital economy to help Africa achieve leapfrog development.

Professor Zhao Haoxing, Dean of the China Africa Economic and Trade Research Institute at Zhejiang University of Business and Technology, delivered a keynote report titled "Zhejiang Business Cases on Innovative Development of African Economic and Trade Cooperation". He stated that Zhejiang Province is one of the most active provinces in China Africa cooperation. At present, a Zhejiang Africa cooperation model has been formed, with high-level exchanges as the guide, comprehensive platforms as the carrier, private economy as the lead, and digital economy as the highlight. It presents the characteristics of Zhejiang merchants entering Africa, which are "brave enough to venture into Africa early, deeply covering all parts of Africa, having multiple industries in industry, trade, agriculture, and tourism, having a complete system of learning, research, production, and innovation, new models of specialization, refinement, and excellence, and deep participation at local levels". At the same time, he introduced the typical experience of Zhejiang merchants entering Africa from the perspectives of manufacturing base model, industrial park model, local marketing model, agency sales model, cross-border e-commerce model, and "teaching people to fish" model, combining relevant cases of well-known Zhejiang merchants. He believes that currently, Zhejiang merchants entering Africa mainly face challenges such as insufficient awareness of the opportunities and risks in the African market, weak product brands and service capabilities of enterprises, weak comprehensive risk resistance ability of private enterprises, shortage of local operating talents in Africa, incomplete supply chain of commercial banks in the African market, and weak innovation in models that deeply cultivate African development. In the future, Zhejiang merchants should systematize the supply chain through "five stream integration", digitize commerce through "OMO integration", and Innovations in marketing localization through "community deepening", ecological park integration through "three-dimensional complementarity", and complementary production capacity through "two-way enclaves" have promoted Zhejiang Africa economic and trade cooperation.