"Africa-China industrialization cooperation continues to reach new heights" (China-Africa cooperation in the new era)
2024-08-25
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The main entrance of China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone.
Photo by Cao Xue
At the Chambishi Copper Mine in Zambia, Zambian employees are remotely controlling the production operations of underground mining equipment.
Photo provided by China Nonferrous Metal Mining Africa Co., Ltd. (Xinhua News Agency)
China has always firmly supported and is willing to be a companion on the road of Africa's modernization. Green, coordinated and sustainable industrialization is an important path to economic development and poverty reduction, and a key driving force for countries to achieve modernization and sustainable development. From the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2015 to the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2018, from the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2021 to the China-Africa Leaders' Dialogue in 2023, supporting Africa's industrialization and walking hand in hand on the road of modernization are important goals and directions of China-Africa cooperation.
Improving infrastructure to promote industrial upgrading
The sun shines on the azure sea, and containers stand in rows on the modern docks. The Kribi Deepwater Port in Cameroon, located on the Atlantic coast, is one of the important achievements and landmark projects of China-Cameroon cooperation, and is also the first large deepwater port in Cameroon. Looking down at the port area, the Kribi-Rorabe Expressway, built by China Harbour Engineering Co., Ltd., connects the Kribi Deepwater Port with the urban area of Kribi, opens up a major channel for the transportation of port goods to northern and eastern Cameroon, and expands the radiation effect of the port as a large container transshipment port and comprehensive hub port in Central Africa.
A port brings life to a city, and a highway opens up the development artery. Raymond Tavares, Regional Representative for Central Africa of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, believes that high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative is an important part of Africa's industrialization and sustainable development. Kribi Deepwater Port has played a vital role in promoting infrastructure construction, employment, trade and investment in Cameroon.
Infrastructure cooperation is a priority area for China-Africa cooperation, providing important support for improving Africa's investment environment, strengthening Africa's industrial base, and promoting industrial upgrading. Since the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Chinese companies have helped Africa add and upgrade more than 10,000 kilometers of railways, nearly 100,000 kilometers of roads, nearly 1,000 bridges, nearly 100 ports, 66,000 kilometers of power transmission and transformation lines, 120 million kilowatts of power installed capacity, 150,000 kilometers of communication backbone networks, and network services covering about 700 million users. Chinese companies have implemented a number of landmark projects and "small and beautiful" projects in the fields of transportation, energy, electricity, housing, and people's livelihood, which have effectively boosted the economic and social development of African countries.
At the China-Africa Leaders' Dialogue held in August last year, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke highly of China's investment in infrastructure and energy construction in Africa, believing that this has not only promoted economic diversification and increased employment opportunities, but also improved the level of African integration.
Not long ago, Chinese companies started construction of photovoltaic power station projects in Algeria, the Kinshasa Ring Road project in the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the first rapid bus project in Cote d'Ivoire. The British "African Leadership Magazine" believes that China's investment projects in Africa include large-scale infrastructure such as roads, ports and power plants, and support Africa's economic growth and regional integration by solving Africa's infrastructure problems.
Build industrial parks to enhance manufacturing capabilities
On the shore of the Red Sea and south of the Suez Canal, the China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone is full of vitality. This is Egypt's industrial park with the best comprehensive environment, the highest investment density, the highest unit output, and the highest concentration of Chinese-funded enterprises. More than 140 companies have taken root here, with cumulative sales exceeding US$3.7 billion, taxes and fees paid exceeding US$200 million, directly providing employment for nearly 6,000 people and driving employment for about 50,000 people.
The cooperation zone connects with Jushi Egypt Fiberglass Co., Ltd., which was established by the Chinese enterprise Jushi, and introduced a complete set of glass fiber production technologies with independent intellectual property rights to Egypt, improving local manufacturing capabilities and building Egypt's glass fiber industry from scratch. Egypt has become a major glass fiber producer in the world, filling the gap in the glass fiber field in Egypt and even in Africa.
The mutually beneficial story between China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone and Jushi Egypt Fiberglass Co., Ltd. vividly illustrates the important role of China-Africa economic and trade parks and various industrial parks in improving the level of industrialization in Africa.
Data shows that by the end of 2023, China's direct investment in Africa will exceed US$40 billion, making it one of the largest sources of foreign investment in Africa. In the past three years, Chinese companies have created more than 1.1 million jobs in the region, and the economic and trade cooperation zones they have invested in cover agriculture, processing and manufacturing, trade and logistics, and other industries, attracting more than 1,000 companies to the zones, making important contributions to local tax revenue and export earnings.
In South Africa, the products produced by Hisense South Africa Industrial Park not only serve South African consumers, but also radiate to more than 10 African countries such as Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Madagascar; in Uganda, the China-Uganda Mbale Industrial Park has incubated a number of local brands of televisions and smart phones. Local employees lamented that "working in a Chinese industrial park has become a matter of pride for local young people"; in Senegal, the Diamniadjo Industrial Park Phase II project was completed at the end of last year. After completion, the project is expected to radiate to Senegal and six neighboring countries, create a large number of jobs, and help Senegal improve productivity and industrialization levels...
China has established capacity cooperation mechanisms with 15 African countries and has built more than 20 industrial parks with African countries. The cooperative parks in which China participates in investment have "built nests to attract phoenixes", quickly attracted industrial clusters, formed scale advantages, and then promoted the development of manufacturing in African countries and accelerated the local industrialization process.
David Bahati, Minister of State for Industry at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives of Uganda, said: "Industrial parks operated by Chinese companies and investors use local resources to help Africa develop its manufacturing industry. China-Africa industrialization cooperation has continuously reached new levels, which is in line with the goals of the AU's 2063 Agenda."
Promote digital transformation and expand cooperation in new areas
In the production digital control center of the southeast ore body of the Chambishi Copper Mine in Zambia, the operation status of each production link such as mining, excavation, machinery and transportation is clearly visible on the large screen. Even if the ground staff do not go down the mine, they are well aware of the underground dynamics. With the help of Chinese companies, this "digital mine" has achieved controllable production processes and refined business management through digital means, solving the problem of front-line production safety.
The digital transformation of the Chambishi Copper Mine is a vivid example of how China and Africa are exploring the potential of cooperation and empowering industrialization. In recent years, China-Africa cooperation has been extending to emerging fields such as digital, green, aerospace, and finance, injecting new impetus into promoting Africa's industrialization process and economic diversification.
Cooperation in new science and technology fields is in the ascendant. China-aided Egypt's second satellite was launched into space; the China-Africa Satellite Remote Sensing Application Cooperation Center was unveiled in Beijing; China and African countries have jointly built more than 10 bilateral joint laboratories or joint research centers to carry out joint research in the fields of resource remote sensing, renewable energy, and ecological agriculture...
The cooperation in the field of new energy has yielded fruitful results. Chinese companies have implemented hundreds of clean energy projects in Africa, including the Souapiti Hydropower Project in Guinea, the Sakaye Photovoltaic Power Station in the Central African Republic, the Ruzibazi Hydropower Station in Burundi, and the De A wind power station in South Africa, which have effectively alleviated the energy bottleneck that restricts economic development, improved the lives of local people, and promoted the industrialization of African countries.
At present, China is accelerating the development of new quality productivity and deeply connecting it with Africa's development strategy, opening up new space and injecting new impetus into China-Africa cooperation. South Africa's independent online news website reported that Africa will be the beneficiary of China's development of new quality productivity, "a more innovative Africa can seize new opportunities and improve its economic prospects."
Alpha Mohammed Jallow, director of the China-Africa Institute at Marconi University in Sierra Leone, said that with the continued advancement of China's modernization and the accelerated development of Africa, Africa-China cooperation is imperative. The Africa-China partnership can promote economic growth, reduce poverty and improve the living standards of Africans.
Source: People's Daily
