Ethiopian coffee, Tanzanian cashew nuts, Rwanda chili sauce... are located in the China Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation and Innovation Promotion Demonstration Park (referred to as the China Africa Economic and Trade Park) in Changsha Gaoqiao Market. A dazzling array of exhibits and specialty goods from African countries attract visitors. There are 37 exhibition halls such as African country pavilions, aiming to build a "never ending" China Africa Economic and Trade Fair, and boost the information exchange between China and Africa and the sales of African products in China.
The China Africa E-commerce Live Broadcasting Incubation Center, which has the same building as the exhibition hall and a 12000 square meter live broadcasting base, will continuously broadcast the "goods" on various social platforms and recommend African good things. Some African friends often show up in the live broadcast room to take netizens to "cloud visit" African customs and product production process.
The pilot zone for in-depth economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa is an important measure in China's "nine projects" to Africa. Among the 21 pilot free trade zones that have been approved to be established in China, Hunan Pilot Free Trade Zone is the only reform and innovation pilot field positioned as a pilot zone for in-depth economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa. Over the past two years, with a series of institutional innovation and exploration and practice, the economic and trade exchanges between Changsha, its "main front", and Africa have become increasingly hot.
According to the latest official statistics, in the first eight months of this year, the trade with Africa in Changsha area of Hunan Free Trade Zone ushered in a blowout growth, with 5.14 billion yuan (RMB, the same below) of imports and exports to Africa, up 298.8% year on year.
As an important carrier for exploring the new mechanism of China Africa economic and trade cooperation, the China Africa Economic and Trade Park, while promoting African products locally, also helps African products enter Hunan through the construction of the whole industrial chain of African non resource products, branding and other ways.
"We have laid out six industrial chains of imported African products, including coffee, cashew nuts, and blueberry, and cultivated more than 100 African brand products." Xiao Xiangdong, Secretary of the Yuhua Party Working Committee and Director of the Administrative Committee of the Changsha Area of the Hunan Free Trade Zone, said.
Taking Rwanda dry pepper, the first African non resource product promoted by Hunan, as an example, through the government's full cycle guidance and cultivation from planting and trade to domestic brand design, processing and production, and then to market circulation, Rwanda pepper, which used to be "kept in purdah", "collided and integrated" with Hunan lobster sauce, turned into a "fire chief" chili sauce with a good Chinese name, and soon won recognition in the domestic market.
"After the appreciation of products, many African pepper suppliers are willing to export pepper, directly driving the volume of trade." Xiao Xiangdong introduced that with the sound circulation system of Gaoqiao Market, the second largest comprehensive market in China, African products do not need to worry about sales. "Our goal is to build this place into the birthplace and core area of African products and brands in China."
The Yuhua Block in the Changsha area of Hunan Free Trade Zone, where the China Africa Economic and Trade Park is located, is the core area of the pilot zone for in-depth economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa. In view of the shortage of foreign exchange in African countries and the difficulty of Chinese enterprises in collecting foreign exchange, the pilot project of settlement trade in non local currency has been carried out first here. The pilot enterprises have successfully carried out 12 trial barter trade orders in 4 African countries.
At the beginning of this year, the enterprise also explored and built China's first cross-border barter trade B2B service platform. "At present, the platform has nearly 200 registered customers. Our" barter trade "approach not only meets the local consumption demand in Africa, but also saves foreign exchange and expands local exports." Chen Xihe, the person in charge of the enterprise, is very optimistic about the market prospect.
The official Implementation Plan of Changsha for Building a Demonstration Highland of Deep Cooperation with Africa, issued in July 2022, proposes to strive to achieve a total trade with Africa of more than 50 billion yuan by the end of 2026, and strive to build Changsha into a demonstration highland of deep cooperation with Africa with international influence.
