CHINA-AFRICA economic and trade cooperation has continued to scale new heights since the 2021 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), delivering tangible benefits to the people of both China and Africa, Assistant Minister of Commerce Tang Wenhong said Tuesday. Tang made the remarks at a press conference detailing the progress and achievements that have been made under the nine cooperation programs China announced during the FOCAC’s 8th Ministerial Conference held three years ago in Senegal. These nine programs span categories such as medical and health, poverty reduction and agricultural development, trade and investment promotion, digital innovation, green development and capacity building, among others. According to Tang, driven by programs aimed at trade and investment promotion as well as poverty reduction and agricultural development, China-Africa investment and trade cooperation has developed steadily. “China has remained Africa’s largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years.” The official said a raft of cooperative projects, such as the Lekki port in Nigeria and the Nairobi expressway in Kenya, have materialized over the past three years. “China has also dispatched more than 500 agricultural experts to Africa and trained nearly 9,000 agricultural talents, providing strong support to Africa’s agricultural modernization process.” Driven by green development, digital innovation and other programs, Chinese companies have implemented a large number of clean energy projects in Africa, while exports of lithium batteries and photovoltaic products to Africa have increased significantly, Tang said. He said China and Africa will continue to deepen friendship and discuss cooperation plans during the FOCAC 2024 Summit, scheduled to be held in Beijing from Sept. 4 to 6. “China will expand institutional opening up to Africa and deepen cooperation in industrial and supply chains, so as to further advance China-Africa economic cooperation and development linkage for shared benefits,” Tang added.(Xinhua) | 