CIIE will be an event which African businesses and governments see as an opportunity to boost exports into China and rebalance the composition of bilateral trade. CGTN's Ramah Nyang explored the ways some countries like Egypt, are trying to either get or expand market access in China.

Ideally, exports of manufactured, industrial goods is the traditional way of building an export-led economy. Japan did it. So did Germany. So has China.

But, as a percentage of GDP, manufacturing sectors across most African economies, with the exception of Egypt, Morocco, South Africa and a handful of others – tends to be small, and hobbled by a range of issues, from poor logistics to the high cost of energy.

If exports are to grow, the continent that's home to the biggest amount of unused arable land, has to turn to agriculture. Some entrepreneurs, like Haitham El Sadany from Egypt, are already exporting citrus fruits to China. When we spoke ahead of the expo, he said the trade row between the United States and China, works to his advantage.

HAITHAM EL SADANY MANAGING DIRECTOR, SADAT AGRO FRUIT "China is a big market. It gets citrus from Egypt, South Africa, even America. For Egypt, especially this year, we will be competitive because our prices our costs will be less than America because of customs."

Exporting fruits is one thing, but most governments would prefer to export finished, value added produce. Kellogs, for instance, uses Egypt as a manufacturing base for breakfast cereals that are exported as far as Japan. China, however, is a market they're yet to get into.

KHALED SHAWKY EXPORT DIRECTOR, KELLOGG CO. "The challenge is to export here is if our product is matching with the Chinese culture and taste, or not. We are here to test the market. We are here to know the culture of the people."

RAMAH NYANG SHANGHAI "Much as agriculture may be a strong long-term edge for African firms keen to export into a market of well over 1.3 billion people, it comes with trade issues of its own. After Kenya's President expressed his desire to shield Kenyan fishermen from Tilapia exports from China in October, the East African country announced it would not approve any import applications for the fish species from the first of January 2019. Much as there are opportunities for the next evolution of bilateral trade, there clear are challenges ahead, as well. RN, CGTN, Shanghai."