A New Era of Industrialization

By+Ni+Yanshuo

Yang Zhenping is no stranger to Africa as his company has launched many construction projects on the continent， in countries that include Zambia and Ghana. “Africa is one of our major markets worldwide. As African countries are in the process of industrialization， there is great potential for future cooperation，” said Yang， Secretary of the Committee of the Overseas Engineering Company of Hunan Industrial Equipment Installation Co. Ltd.

“Thats why I am here to look for more cooperation with African countries，” he said while attending the Fifth China Africa Industrial Forum （CAIF） held in Beijing National Convention Center on November 16-17. Supporting African countries industrialization and boosting Sino-African production capacity cooperation will be the top priorities in Sino-African cooperation in the next five years， according to Cheng Zhigang， Secretary General of CAIF. He said that China-Africa cooperation in infrastructure construction has been witnessing rapid development in the form of industrial parks.

“The African market will provide huge business opportunities for investors in the coming years， due to improving infrastructure， industrial development and demographic dividends，” said Cheng.

Africas youthful market

The demographic dividend is one of the unique development advantages of African countries. According to a report recently issued by the UN， Africas population has reached 1.2 billion， and is still growing. In Southeast Africa， young people between 10-24 years old account for 33 percent of the population. In 2025， youth on the continent will represent a quarter of the worlds youth population.

“These young people will provide energetic impetus for industrialization in African countries，”Cheng told ChinAfrica.

Industrialization is the first among the 10 major China-Africa cooperation plans put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation（FOCAC） in December 2015， as well as a key sector and development direction of China-Africa cooperation. Experts believe that production capacity cooperation between China and African countries is an effective way to improve industrialization in Africa.

Agenda 2063， a collective vision and roadmap for the next 50 years initiated by the African Union， also vowed to transform， grow and industrialize A frican economies， and consolidate the moderniza-tion of African agriculture and agro-businesses.

“CAIF will work hard to support production capacity cooperation between China and Africa，” Cheng noted.

According to Cheng， cooperation between Chinese enterprises and their African counterparts did not always result in success stories. There were also difficulties， challenges and failures. “These challenges include insufficient knowledge about African countriesconditions and inadequate risk evaluations，” he said.

Optimistic outlook

But despite these challenges， Algerian Ambassador to China Ahcène Boukhelfa is optimistic about the future development of China-Algeria cooperation.

“Algeria is looking forward to working with China on many projects. There are also many projects that are still in progress，” he told ChinAfrica. “China is the biggest business partner of Algeria. China can bring a lot to Algeria and vice versa.”

Business Diplomacy Counselor Masresha Endalew of the Ethiopian Embassy in China stressed the importance of industrialization in China-Ethiopia cooperation.

“Definitely， industrialization is very important for Ethiopia. China is now the worlds second largest economy， but we are quite weak in this regard，” he told ChinAfrica. Its estimated that there are more than 10，000 Chinese enterprises registered in Africa with i nvestment totaling $100 billion. Customs statistics show that in the first nine months of 2017， China-Africa trade value totaled $125.64 billion， a year-on-year increase of 14.5 percent. At the FOCAC Johannesburg Summit， China also pledged $60 billion in supporting the 10 major China-Africa cooperation plans. By March this year， more than a half of the fund has been invested.

“Ethiopia is transitioning from an agricultural to an industrializing economy，” said Endalew. “We definitely expect more Chinese private and state-owned enterprises to invest in Ethiopia.”

The Fifth CAIF also saw the launch of the program to select the 100 Most Valuable Chinese Enterprises for the African Market， which will be announced in January.