China stretches run as Africa's largest trading partner to 15 consecutive years

BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- China has remained Africa's largest trading partner for a 15th consecutive year, while the proportion of China-Africa trade in Africa's total foreign trade has steadily increased, according to a report released on Thursday.

The report, jointly formulated by the Office of the Leading Group for Promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and other authorities, aimed to systematically review the development results of Belt and Road cooperation between China and African countries and pointed to the bright future of practical cooperation between China and African countries.

By the end of June this year, China had granted zero tariffs on 98 percent of tariff items from 27 least-developed African countries, had signed bilateral investment promotion and protection agreements with 34 African countries, and had signed double taxation avoidance agreements with 21 African countries, Xu Jianping, an official with the NDRC, told a press conference.

Last year, China-Africa trade reached 282.1 billion U.S. dollars, setting a new record for the second consecutive year. As of the end of 2023, China's direct investment stock in Africa had exceeded 40 billion dollars, Xu said.

Xu added that China-Africa trade and investment is expected to maintain steady growth this year, demonstrating the strong vitality and resilience of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation.