China-Africa cooperation energizes Global South growth

Containers are being loaded onto a truck at Lekki Port in Lagos, Nigeria, on Nov. 30, 2024. Lekki Port, a commercial cooperation project constructed by China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd., stands as Nigeria’s first deep seaport and one of the largest of its kind in West Africa. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)

• As the world’s largest developing country and the continent with the highest number of developing countries, China and Africa are charting the course for shared progress and revitalization, facilitating the modernization of the Global South and injecting “Southern” power into global prosperity and development.
• Over the years, China-Africa cooperation has propelled Africa’s growth by empowering African youth through initiatives such as the Luban Workshops, Confucius Institutes, and the China-Africa Universities 100 Cooperation Plan.

NAIROBI, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is on a visit to four African countries — Namibia, the Republic of the Congo, Chad, and Nigeria — from Jan. 5 to 11, marking the 35th consecutive year that China’s foreign minister has chosen Africa as the destination for the first overseas trip of the year.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, has hailed it as a longstanding tradition and a distinctive hallmark of China’s diplomacy that stems from the deep and enduring friendship between China and Africa.

Over the years, China-Africa cooperation has been forging ahead towards all-round, multi-level, and high-quality development, delivering results across multiple fields, notably in areas of trade, industrialization, agricultural modernization, and capacity building, benefiting billions of people in both China and Africa.

As the world’s largest developing country and the continent with the highest number of developing countries, China and Africa are charting the course for shared progress and revitalization, facilitating the modernization of the Global South and injecting “Southern” power into global prosperity and development.

DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Herman Uwizeyimana, general manager of Fisher Global, a Rwandan agriculture company specializing in chili cultivation and export, made a field trip to examine the vibrant red chili crops near Mulindi Market in Kigali, the country’s capital.

In 2021, Rwanda began to export dried chili to China, making chili cultivation a key export industry. “When people talk about chili, they often think of China. Everyone knows that our main market is China, and we have many farmers involved,” he said.

Over the past three years, Fisher Global has exported 200-300 tonnes of dried chili to China annually. Bolstered by China’s recent zero-tariff policy, Uwizeyimana’s goal is to expand exports to 1,500 tonnes per year.

Herman Uwizeyimana, a pioneering Rwandan chili farmer with a PhD in ecology from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, checks the growth of chili peppers in a field in Kigali, Rwanda, Dec. 4, 2024. (Xinhua/Ji Li)

Since Dec. 1, China has granted all least developed countries with which it has diplomatic relations, including 33 African countries, zero-tariff treatment on 100 percent of their product categories, becoming the first major developing country and leading economy to adopt such a policy.

On top of the zero-tariff policy, China has introduced measures to turn its vast consumption market into a key opportunity for Africa, not least by expanding green channels for African agricultural products. It has also facilitated Africa’s participation in major exhibitions like the China International Import Expo, helped connect African products to global markets, and signed economic partnership agreements for long-term, stable institutional support.

Driven by these measures, Rwandan dried chili and coffee, Kenyan avocados, Beninese pineapples, Malagasy lamb, Malawian peanuts, and Mozambican macadamia nuts and cashews are now gracing Chinese consumers’ tables.

According to the General Administration of Customs of China, in the first eight months of 2024, China imported African agricultural products worth 28.47 billion yuan (about 4 billion U.S. dollars), up by 4.8 percent from a year earlier.

With two-way trade booming, China’s vast market has also strengthened Africa’s industrial chains and added value to its products. Michel Anondraka, director general of agriculture and livestock at Madagascar’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, said Madagascar exported frozen lamb products to China for the first time in 2024 and the transition to exporting meat instead of live animals will retain more added value in the country.

“Thanks to this export, (Madagascar’s) livestock farmers will have a secure market, which will boost their production, increase their income, and earn more foreign currency,” he said, adding that China’s growing demand for Madagascar’s mutton and goat meat will boost production for local livestock farmers and speed up the African country’s agricultural modernization.