China's private business hub to increase trade with Africa

East China's Zhejiang Province plans to increase its trade volume with Africa to $40 billion by the end of 2022 to account for at least 20 percent of the total Sino-Africa trade.

Zhejiang's department of commerce issued an action plan revealing the details on Friday as China's first provincial-level plan on economic cooperation with African countries.

The 40-billion-dollar target will mark a significant rise from the 30.1-billion-dollar trade between Africa and Zhejiang, home to many of China's most successful private businesses, in 2018.

The plan also promises to increase investments in Africa's industries of textiles, garments, chemicals, equipment manufacturing and pharmaceuticals to meet the continent's development needs.

The province, however, will bar investments that are polluting and highly energy-consuming from going to Africa, said the plan, which also calls for more agricultural investments and cooperation.

The document also said the province would expand goods imports from Africa, especially in the non-resources category.

According to China Customs, China's foreign trade with Africa reached $204.19 billion in 2018, up 19.7 percent year-on-year and 7.1 percentage points higher than the growth of China's overall foreign trade during the same period.

Specifically, the country's exports to Africa rose 10.8 percent to $104.91 billion in 2018, while its imports from Africa surged 30.8 percent to reach $99.28 billion.