Sino-African Economic, Trade CooperationRemarkable progress has been made in Sino-African economic and trade cooperation in recent years.First on the agenda of the three-day China-Africa Cooperation Forum, which will open tomorrow, are discussions on ways to further promote cooperation under new circumstances. China has signed inter-governmental trade agreements with the vast majority of African countries, and set up bilateral joint committees on economic, trade and technological cooperation with many African countries. This has created a means for furthering Sino-African economic and trade cooperation. China's trade with the African continent has seen rapid growth.Two-way trade exceeded 4.7 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of this year, an increase of 69.5 percent over a year ago, of which China's export stood at 2.354 billion U.S. dollars, up 30.9 percent, and its import was 2.36 billion U.S. dollars, up 140.3 percent. Africa offers enormous market potential for China's project and work contracting. China signed 573 project and work contracts worth 1.229 billion U.S. dollars with African countries from January to June, up 3.6 percent over a year ago. China has already registered a turnover of 553 million U.S. dollars in this field. Chinese enterprises are investing more in Africa. By the end of June, China had set up nearly 480 enterprises in 47 countries with joint contractual investment reaching 820 million U.S. dollars, out of which Chinese investment was 530 million U.S. dollars. China has established 11 investment and trade promotion centers in Africa since 1995 to provide various services for Chinese and African enterprises, thus playing a positive role in promoting China's investment in African and the development of both China and African countries. The Chinese government has offered assistance to African countries over the past decades, and completed 640 projects in the areas of agriculture, animal husbandry and fishery. China has extended preferential loans to 23 African countries since 1995. So far, 33 preferential loan projects have been granted, resulting in remarkable social and economic benefits for African countries. |
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