China, Africa to Promote On-line Economic, Trade CooperationA newly built website "www. wtmeeting.com" will provide Chinese and African enterprises with a communication platform on-line for economic and trade cooperation.The platform can offer economic and trade information for enterprises in China and over 36 African countries. The platform, both multi-channel and multilingual, is initiated by the On-line Convention for the Promotion of Sino-African Economic and Trade Cooperation, which opened Thursday. As important measures for the follow-up work after the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, which was held in October last year, the on-line convention aims to promote economic and trade exchanges between China and African countries and fulfill the follow-up actions of the forum. In a congratulatory letter to the opening ceremony, Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan said the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Ministerial Conference Beijing 2000, which proved to be a great success, has set up a new pattern in promoting cooperation between China and Africa in many fields in the new century. The On-line Convention for the Promotion of Sino-African Economic and Trade Cooperation is not only a concrete measure of the follow-up work after the forum, but also an exploration and attempt to promote Sino-African cooperation in a brand new way. Tang noted that he believes the convention will be helpful to immediate, exact and full exchanges of ideas between Chinese and African enterprises. It can keep the Sino-African economic and trade cooperation developing. Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Shi Guangsheng said in his congratulatory letter that Sino-African economic and trade cooperation has great potential and a bright future. Last year, the volume of bilateral trade between China and Africa has exceeded US$10 billion. Now, the On-line Convention for the Promotion of Sino-African Economic and Trade Cooperation offers a new way of promoting bilateral economic and trade cooperation in light of the new economic globalization and information explosion, according to Shi. It will help to further understanding, expand consensus, promote cooperation and deepen friendship between Chinese and African enterprises, Shi said. According to the economic and trade experts at the convention, the platform will build a direct channel for bilateral information exchanges and even for meetings between entrepreneurs and business officials through introducing Chinese and African environment and opportunities on investment and employment. This convention is jointly hosted by the Follow-up Committee of the Chinese side of the Forum for China-African Cooperation and CCPIT. |
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