Over 15 years after the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (the "FOCAC"), China-Africa economic and trade cooperation has become a highlight in international cooperation with Africa and a model of South-South cooperation. Since the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC, African countries and China keep increasingly close economic and trade relations. For the upcoming Johannesburg Summit and the Sixth Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC, the reporter from Economic Daily made an exclusive interview with Qian Keming, General Secretary from the Secretariat of Preparatory Committee for FOCAC Johannesburg Summit and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, with regard to the situation of the FOCAC and China-Africa economic and trade cooperation.
Reporter: At the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC held in 2012, the Chinese government announced pragmatic measures for supporting the development of Africa the next three years. Over the past three years, how are these economic and trade measures going?
Qian Keming: The measures announced at the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC Forum covered five areas, three of which involved trade and economic cooperation. For the recent three years, with joint efforts and close cooperation of both parties, various economic and trade measures have been overall implemented, which fully demonstrated the image of China as a responsible great power serious about making and keeping a promise and upholding integrity.
In terms of investment and financing cooperation, the Chinese party has overfulfilled the intended target of providing loans of USD20 billion. For development assistance, the Chinese government has implemented nearly 900 aid projects in African countries, involving multiple fields such as poverty reduction, agriculture, health, education, trade promotion and climate change. We also have cultivated more than 30,000 talents of all kinds for Africa and conducted the "Lighting" activity for cataract treatment and medical staff training in five African countries. Regarding support for the development of African integration, China has helped African countries and regional organizations to construct or retrofit a batch of customs and commodity inspection facilities, and actively participated in the cooperation in cross-border and cross-regional infrastructure construction in Africa, and implemented a number of major projects with the African party, such as the railway more than 760 kilometers from Ethiopia to Djibouti, and the first section of the northern strategic corridor of the East African Community ("EAC")—the railway over 480 kilometers from Nairobi of Kenya to Mombasa. It is worth mentioning that Chinese enterprises not only took part in the design and construction of those projects, but also provided mature and reliable technologies and equipment, and they may also participate in the operation and management of partial projects in the future. At present, the Ministry of Commerce of China and the AU Commission have established a joint working group mechanism for cooperation in cross-border and cross-regional infrastructure in Africa, which, as I believe, will play a bigger role in China-Africa cooperation in this field.
Reporter: Since the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC, African countries and China keep increasingly close economic and trade relations. What active roles does the implementation of economic and trade measures play in pushing forward the development of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation? What are tangible benefits brought to the economic and social development of African countries?
Qian Keming: Since the establishment of the FOCAC in 2000, China has launched a series of economic and trade measures at previous conferences, and played an important leading role in the development of China-Africa economic and trade relations. The implementation of economic and trade measures announced at the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC has driven China-Africa economic and trade cooperation to a new level. In 2013, China-Africa trade volume exceeded USD200 billion for the first time and in 2014, reached USD222 billion, up 11.8 % in comparison with that in 2012. In the last three years, China's direct investment in Africa totaled nearly USD10 billion, creating a record.
By actively implementing economic and trade measures of the FOCAC, China shares development achievements with African countries, and sincerely hopes that African countries can develop more quickly and people thereof enjoy a better life. Over the past three years, the implementation of economic and trade measures of the FOCAC has been playing an active role in facilitating economic and social development in Africa, as mainly shown in the following three aspects: First, support Africa to reduce poverty, improve people's livelihood, and enhance independent development capacity. In the past three years, China helped African countries to construct nearly 100 economic infrastructure projects, offered over 20,000 government scholarships to Africa countries, and held nearly more than 1,000 Africa-oriented multilateral and bilateral technical management training classes and senior official seminars. Second, support Africa to improve infrastructure, optimize investment environment and solve development problems. Through giving play to efficiency and quality advantage, Chinese enterprises implemented 85 major projects with the African party in transportation, electricity, housing construction, building materials, telecommunications, water conservancy, food processing, development of energy and mineral resources and other fields in just three years, and the Chinese party also provided financing support for many projects to make up the shortfall of construction funds of the African party. Third, support Africa to create jobs, increase tax revenue, and enhance its own "hematopoietic" function. Since 2012, enterprises invested by China in Africa have paid various taxes more than USD2 billion to their host countries, and hire local staff nearly 600,000 people. Chinese enterprises have invested and established the first localized enterprise producing granaries of steel plate type Africa in Egypt; joint-venture AWA airline in Ghana has opened three domestic and regional routes of Ghana, and been awarded the "Best Airline Award" by the Ghana Tourism Authority in 2014.
Reporter: Johannesburg Summit and the Sixth Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC will be held soon. Standing at a new starting point in history, how do you think China-Africa economic and trade cooperation in the next period?
Qian Keming: Over 15 years after the establishment of the FOCAC, China-Africa economic and trade cooperation has been developing fast and vigorously, so to speak and has become a highlight in international cooperation with Africa and a model of South-South cooperation. In 2014, China-Africa trade volume indicated an increase of 20 times in comparison with that in 2000 when the FOCAC was established. By the end of 2014, China's total direct investment stock was over USD30 billion, 64 times of that in 2000.
In recent years, the international financial crisis has resulted in weak global demand, slowdown in international trade, and drop in price of bulk commodity, and China and Africa are not crisis makers, but affected thereby. Respective economic development of and bilateral economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa are indeed obviously under the pressure of external environment. However, history tells us China and Africa are always a community with a common destiny; no matter in how difficult times, China and Africa will be able to jointly overcome the difficulties, remove barriers and create brilliant future just through helping each other and going hand in hand.
Our confidence in the future comes from three aspects. The first one is same cooperation concept. China's dream of realizing Chinese nation’s great rejuvenation is compatible and in common with Africa's dream of unity for self-improvement, development and revitalization. China is actively implementing "the Belt and Road" construction and carrying forward the cooperation in international capacity and equipment manufacturing, which highly tally with Africa's 2063 Agenda and development strategies for industrialization and modernization, so both parties may regard each other as an indispensable partner, and hold unprecedentedly strong demand for strengthening their strategic connection and collaboration. The second one is solid basis for cooperation. Africa has become one of the fastest growing economies in the world, while China always ranks top in the world's major economies for its economic growth. Both China and Africa are important forces for maintaining world economic growth and prosperity. China-Africa relations are free from "historical burden"; with linked development stages and highly complementary economic structures, China and Africa will have more broad prospects for cooperation in the future. The third one is strong cooperation drive. Africa is a continent full of hope and vitality, with young people under 20 years old accounting for half of the total population. In order to convert this huge market potential and demographic dividend into strong driving forces for development, Africa is sparing no effort to promote industrialization, integration
and urbanization, accelerate the development of infrastructure interconnection, construct practical production lines in short supply and foster localized industry clusters. Through 30-year reform and opening up, China has become a net capital exporter and has a large number of equipment and capacities with comparative advantages and international competitiveness and in line with needs of African countries at the development stage.
In the coming period, China will continue to take more effective measures in livelihood areas such as education, agriculture and health to support Africa to reduce poverty and achieve inclusive and sustainable growth. Meanwhile, China will go on expanding investment in Africa, propelling enhanced cooperation between both parties in emerging fields including aviation, finance, tourism, marine economy and green economy, and creating new growth points, so as to inject fresh impetus into the all-around upgrade and sustainable development of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation.
Reporter: 2015 marks the 15th anniversary of the FOCAC, and Johannesburg Summit is another great historical opportunity to overall enhance China-Africa cooperation. Up to now, how far China's preparations in economic and trade fields have progressed? What are the highlights?
Qian Keming: Both parties attach great importance to Johannesburg Summit. At present, China and South Africa, the Co-chair of Africa countries, are cooperating closely to orderly make good preparations. Preparations in economic and trade fields include the design of pragmatic measures for Africa, the Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs and the China Equipment Manufacturing Exposition.
Pragmatic measures have always been the priority of the FOCAC, play the role of planning and guiding in China-Africa cooperation, and are the best embody of "pragmatic" feature of China-Africa cooperation and the focus of concern at home and abroad as well. Johannesburg Summit is the second summit since the establishment of the FOCAC, coincides with the 15th anniversary thereof, and is held in Africa for the first time and of great significance in inheriting the past and ushering in the future. To match with the specification and theme of Johannesburg Summit, in the design of measures, the Chinese party follows the work principles of "sincerity, pragmaticality, closeness and integrity" for Africa, adheres to the correct viewpoint on justice and interests, and keeps close communication and coordination with the African party, to ensure further innovation of new measures on the basis of inheritance and their conformance to the development trend of China-Africa cooperation and the interest demands of both parties, thereby creating upgraded China-Africa cooperation and show the world a bright future of China-Africa cooperation.
The Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs is an institutional activity under the framework of the FOCAC for promoting China-Africa economic and trade cooperation. This conference is hosted jointly by the Ministry of Commerce of China, the Department of Trade and Industry of South Africa and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. Currently, both parties have invited respective representative enterprises from fields of manufacturing, agriculture, forestry and fishery, infrastructure, finance and service, and cooperative park to attend the conference.
The China-Africa Equipment Manufacturing Exposition is a special activity of Johannesburg Summit. This is the first time for both parties to jointly hold a large-scale equipment exposition in Africa and for Chinese high-quality equipment to appear in Africa in a collective manner. The Chinese party makes an elaborate plan according to the needs of Africa, preliminarily design sectors including railway, aviation, electricity and communication in the Chinese pavilion, will select representative enterprises in these industries to participate in the exposition, and exhibit a number of Chinese high-quality equipment products adapted to African countries' purchasing power as well as technology, management and supporting levels. We believe that this exposition can not only show China, but also better serve Africa, and will set up a connection platform for China-Africa cooperation in capacity and investment and boost the development of African infrastructure and industrialization.