The first all-member meeting of the China-Africa Business
Council was held here on Monday, signaling new efforts by China and
Africa to boost cooperation in private sector.
Wei Jianguo, China's vice minister of commerce, said at the
meeting that favorable conditions have to be created to maximize
the role of private businesses and inject new vigor into
China-Africa cooperation.
The business council was first established in 2005 to create a
service network and communication platform for Chinese and African
businesses.
In the past, according to Wei, it was difficult for private
businesses to get policy, capital, information and personnel
support for their ventures. These resources were concentrated in
public institutions or state-owned enterprises.
Wei noted China will roll out new measures to promote economic
collaboration between China and Africa during a cooperation forum
to be held between the two sides in November. "The Ministry of
Commerce is now working with the National Development and Reform
Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the China Development Bank,
the Export and Import Bank of China and insurance companies to
design supportive policies and measures to facilitate bilateral
cooperation."
Liu Canglong, chairman of the board of directors of Sichuan
Hongda Group, a big company which focuses on chemicals, metallurgy
and real estate, said investing in Africa will provide Chinese
private businesses with a host of opportunities.
Liu said domestic market competition is now so fierce that there
is difficult for new businesses to get a toehold, but Africa is a
huge market and the investment environment there keeps
improving.
Liu said he hoped that by investing in Africa, Chinese
enterprises would be able to help the people there enhance local
infrastructure and improve their living standards. He said he also
hoped that Chinese businessmen would find another "barrel of
gold".
According to official Chinese statistics, bilateral trade
between China and Africa totaled US$40 billion in 2005. China
invested US$6.3 billion in Africa that year.
(Xinhua News Agency October 27, 2006)