Themed around communication and mutual learning, people-to people exchanges and win-win cooperation, the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Economic, Trade and Cultural Cooperation kicked off on Friday in Jinhua City, east China’s Zhejiang Province.
The event gathered over 400 guests from 40 countries and regions to jointly promote China-Africa friendship and cooperation, contributing to the building of an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.
Zhejiang plays an important role in China’s cooperation with Africa, with the city of Jinhua carrying out extensive cooperation with Africa across various fields, said Qin Boyong, vice chairperson of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, in a video speech delivered to the forum.
Lu Shan, deputy governor of Zhejiang, said that the province will focus on its own capabilities to respond to what Africa needs, continuously expanding the width and depth of its cooperation with Africa.
Government officials and diplomats from African countries including Tanzania, South Africa and the Republic of the Congo congratulated the successful holding of the forum in their speeches, and placed further expectations for deepening the cooperation between China and Africa across various fields.
Special representative of the Chinese government on African affairs, as well as other Chinese officials representing the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, and the city of Jinhua, also spoke at the event.
The forum presented multiple pragmatic cooperation achievements, such as the 2024 China-Africa exchange month featuring Cultural Silk Road, Zhejiang Normal University’s research results on Africa, and a special report on how cooperation among Chinese and African enterprises enhances the upgrading of Africa’s agricultural industrial chain. The China-Africa (Jinhua) Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Park was also unveiled at the forum.
28 projects were signed at the event, covering trade, overseas investment and contracting, overseas warehouses, etc., with a total contract amount of 47.91 billion yuan (about 6.67 billion U.S. dollars). The forum also held a signing ceremony for the first batch of enterprises settled in a China-Africa themed building in Zhejiang’s Yiwu.
The forum is hosted by the Zhejiang provincial government and jointly organized by the Jinhua municipal government and Zhejiang Normal University.
