China's Zhejiang achieves fruitful results in cooperation with Africa

BEIJING -- Zhejiang Province, an economic powerhouse in east China, has seen remarkable progress in cooperation with Africa, said a provincial official Wednesday on the sidelines of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

"In 2023, the trade volume between Zhejiang and Africa reached 53.9 billion U.S. dollars, ranking in the forefront among the country's provincial-level regions. In the first half of this year, Zhejiang's imports from Africa reached 5.55 billion dollars, marking a year-on-year increase of 12.9 percent," Chen Jiangfeng, deputy director of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Zhejiang Province, told a press conference.

Over the years, the industrial cooperation between Zhejiang and Africa has gradually expanded from labor-intensive sectors to medium and high-end manufacturing, digital economy and cross-border e-commerce, according to Chen.

"Zhejiang provided vocational training for over 2,800 individuals from more than 160 African companies," Chen added.

The province has sent medical teams to Africa over the past decades and supported countries such as Mali, the Central African Republic and Namibia, Chen said, adding that from 2022 to 2023, a total of 110 medical personnel from Zhejiang were dispatched to Africa, providing medical services to 183,800 people in the continent.

Zhu Chonglie, secretary of the Communist Party of China Jinhua Municipal Committee, told the press conference that more than 10,000 enterprises in the city engage in cross-border trade with Africa.

In addition, nearly 2,000 African enterprises are registered in Jinhua, over 30,000 Jinhua businessmen do business in Africa, and almost 80,000 African friends come to Jinhua each year to work and live, Zhu said.

During the press conference, Zhu Jun, chief economist of the provincial department of commerce, said Zhejiang has invested in 575 enterprises across Africa, with investments primarily concentrated in the textile industry, non-ferrous metal mining and wholesale trade.

"Zhejiang is a major province of private economy and private enterprises are the driving force behind the province's investment and cooperation with Africa. In 2023, exports of Zhejiang's private companies to Africa amounted to 277.25 billion yuan (about 38.97 billion U.S. dollars)," Zhu said.

To further enhance China-Africa digital economy cooperation, an Africa day for digital economy will be featured at the third Global Digital Trade Expo, which will be held from Sept. 25 to 29 in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, according to Zhu.