African and Chinese entrepreneurs felt heartened after China
announced Saturday morning a package of preferential policies to
boost China-Africa cooperation and mutual development.
With the governments' determination and increasing efforts to
boost bilateral trade and investment, they are confident about
future cooperation and development, said representatives from
Chinese and African business circles to an entrepreneurs'
conference held on the sidelines of the Beijing Summit of the Forum
on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
A high-level dialogue and conference of Chinese and African
entrepreneurs opened Saturday afternoon after Chinese President Hu
Jintao announced a list of measures covering aid, trade, investment
and social development for Africa at the opening ceremony of the
two-day milestone summit.
The FOCAC mechanism and the entrepreneurs' conference have
provided a platform for Chinese and African business circles to
exchange views and tap cooperation potential to increase mutual
investment, said Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of
International Trade (CCPIT) Wan Jifei.
Such a platform is conducive to the growth of trade and
investment between China and Africa, Wan said.
As China's largest trade promotion organization, the CCPIT has
signed cooperation agreements with 31 chambers of commerce in 20
African countries, and signed a cooperation memorandum with the
African Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture, and
Professions (UACCIAP), according to Wan.
A joint chamber of commerce between China and African countries,
initiated by the CCPIT and the UACCIAP, will be unveiled on Sunday
to further facilitate cooperation between business circles of the
two sides, said Wan.
The proposal to set up such a chamber was raised in the first
ministerial conference of the FOCAC in 2000.
One of the largest economies in the world, China is Africa's
first and the most important cooperative partner, said Mohamed El
Masry, head of the UACCIAP.
Africa's cooperation with China is aimed at increasing bilateral
trade and attracting Chinese investment and technology transfer to
fully tap the continent's human and natural resources for better
economic growth, he said.
Patrice Motsepe, president of the Business Unity of South Africa
and executive chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, said that the
key to Africa's development lies in the increase of Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) in the continent.
There is great potential for China-Africa cooperation, as
Africa, with more than 40 percent of its population under the age
of 15, means a huge market in the future, and China can also become
a big importer of Africa's manufactured products, the entrepreneur
said.
FDI to Africa nearly doubled from 17 billion U.S. dollars in
2004 to 31 billion U.S. dollars in 2005, according to Motsepe.
China will double its aid to Africa and provide 3 billion U.S.
dollars of preferential loans and 2 billion U.S. dollars of buyer's
credits to the continent in the next three years, President Hu
Jintao said at the opening ceremony of the summit, the largest
diplomatic event in China-Africa history.
China will also set up a fund of 5 billion U.S. dollars to
encourage Chinese companies to invest in Africa, Hu told an
audience of 41 African heads of state or government, senior
officials from 48 African countries and delegates from
international organizations.
(Xinhua News Agency November 5, 2006)