Post-pandemic recovery: Digital China-Africa cooperation thrives
CGTN

The global economic and trade exchanges are in the grip of the COVID-19 epidemic, which has also affected China-Africa economic and trade cooperation. The recovery, however, is progressing with digital cooperation showing potential, according to an expert.

Topics such as joint fight against the pandemic and the impact of COVID-19 on China-Africa cooperation are expected to be discussed at the Ninth Meeting of the China-Africa Think Tanks Forum from November 5 to 6 in Beijing.

In the first half of 2020, the trade volume between China and Africa, according to China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), saw a year-on-year decline of 19.1 percent to $82.4 billion but is on a pick-up track. In June, China's imports from Africa went up by 16.2 percent while bilateral trade with Africa increased by 8.6 percent.

"The overall trend of the China-Africa trade this year depends on pandemic containment. A rebound is expected if the spreading pandemic is contained," said He Wenping, a research fellow at the China-Africa Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

"Although China-Africa trade does not account for a large proportion of China's foreign trade, China is Africa's largest trading partner, and there is huge potential for cooperation between the two sides," she told CGTN.

In terms of traditional trade, according to He, primary agricultural products processed by Chinese companies investing in Africa can not only enhance Sino-African cooperation but also sell to countries like the United States through entrepot trade.

"What's more, Africa also has many high-quality agricultural products besides coffee beans, such as beef from Zambia and mango from Mali, which can enter China's huge market of 1.4 billion people after accelerating the process of certification of China-Africa quarantine standards," she said.

Booming digital cooperation

According to MOFCOM, China-Africa digital economic cooperation has ushered in an opportunity for rapid development while curbing the pandemic.

Chinese companies have been actively sharing with Africa their experience in fighting the coronavirus with the help of cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) and developing cloud economics.

Flourishing cooperation models including digital cooperation platforms, online promotion conferences and e-shopping powered by livestreams have effectively served the docking of Chinese and African enterprises and driven the export of African specialty products to China, the ministry added.

He believed that the digital economy is an opportunity for Africa to overtake on a bend. "Nowadays, more and more Africans own smartphones and the proportion of young people who easily accept new things, such as online shopping, is high. Meanwhile, Huawei and ZTE have also built many communication network facilities there."

"For example, Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) advocated by Alibaba has carried out cooperation in customs clearance, payment as well as logistics with countries, such as Rwanda and Ethiopia, aiming at helping businesses in those countries trade with China as well as the world in a digital way," the researcher noted.

Data from MOFCOM showed that during the first half of this year, China's direct investment in Africa increased by 1.7 percent from a year earlier, and the value of newly signed engineering contracts by Chinese companies in Africa was $29.1 billion, a year-on-year increase of 33.1 percent.

Joint fight against COVID-19

When the pandemic first broke out in China, African countries supported China's fight against the outbreak by providing anti-epidemic materials, such as masks, goggles and medical gloves.

As of mid-year, China has sent to over 50 African countries and the AU their much-needed supplies, dispatched medical experts and shared its anti-epidemic experience via video conferences. 

A communique issued on June 13 by the AU said China has ensured the supply of 30 million testing kits, 10,000 ventilators and 80 million masks each month for Africa, a "significant contribution."

"China will lose no time in following through on the measures I announced at the opening of the World Health Assembly, and continue to help African countries by providing supplies, sending expert teams and facilitating Africa's procurement of medical supplies in China," Chinese President Xi Jinping said during the Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity against COVID-19 in June.

Meanwhile, China will start ahead of schedule the construction of the Africa CDC headquarters this year, work with Africa to fully deliver the healthcare initiative adopted at the FOCAC Beijing Summit, and speed up the construction of China-Africa friendship hospitals and the cooperation between paired-up Chinese and African hospitals, he added.

The forum, established by the Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University in 2011 and officially incorporated into the framework of the FOCAC in 2012, has become a fixed mechanism for China-Africa civil dialogue and an event for the institute to further develop African Studies with Chinese characteristics. 

(Cover: Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit, the first light railway in Africa constructed by China commissions in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, September 20, 2015. /CFP)