Wei Jianguo, vice-minister of commerce, said: "China and Africa should take advantage of the continent's long history of applying traditional medicines and China's established theories and mature techniques in traditional Chinese medicine and enhance bilateral economic and technological exchanges and mutually beneficial collaboration."

The vice-minister was speaking at a China-Africa seminar on technology and the export of traditional medicines.

The one-day seminar was held in Beijing yesterday as a follow-up to the China-Africa Co-operation Forum, a mechanism devised in 2000 to enhance trade and economic ties between China and Africa.

Taking part in the seminar were senior officials from China's Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health, State Drug Administration, and State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, as well as from African countries and major Chinese and African medicine companies.

Many African countries suffer from rising costs for medical treatment and medicine so there should be a lot of market potential for traditional Chinese medicines, which are highly efficient and affordable for ordinary African people, said a senior official with the Ministry of Commerce's Department of Science and Technology.

Further exploring the African market for traditional Chinese medicine will help promote both sides' economic and social development, he said.

But China's exports of traditional medicines have remained at a disproportionately low level compared to the otherwise rapidly expanding bilateral trade, said the official.

Trade between China and Africa was US$12.39 billion last year, 15 times the amount in 1979.

China exported US$9.57 million worth of traditional medicine, or 2.08 percent of its total medicine exports, to Africa in 2001, according to Chinese customs statistics. Last year, the figure was US$10.08 million, or 1.49 percent of China's total traditional medicine exports.

China exported US$600 million of traditional medicines to over 130 countries and regions around the world last year.

Traditional Chinese medicines are difficult to sell to Africa because the continent is dominated by Western medicines and medical theories and many African countries know little and are doubtful about traditional Chinese medicines, said the Ministry of Commerce official. African countries use Western medical standards and procedures for entry inspections and they levy extraordinarily high tariffs on herbal medicines, said the official.

The entry of traditional Chinese medicines into the continent is also held back by Chinese medicine companies' negligence of how to officially register, how to conform with international herbal medicine practices and how to comply with detailed and standardized specifications, he said.

(China Daily April 24, 2003)