The China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in Africa (Morocco) will be held from June 10 to 12 in Casablanca, according to the Department of Commerce of Hunan Province on June 2. This marks Hunan's first large-scale overseas economic and trade event in Africa following China's full implementation of zero-tariff measures for all 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic relations.

Themed "China and Africa Together Toward the Future," the event is co-hosted by the Secretariat of the Organizing Committee of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE) and Morocco's Ministry of Industry and Trade. It focuses on key areas such as the entire agricultural industrial chain, equipment manufacturing, green energy, and the import and export of specialty goods. Through pragmatic measures like overseas promotion of the platform, policy alignment, and targeted industrial matchmaking, it aims to facilitate two-way trade channels between Hunan and Africa, reduce cross-border cooperation costs, and promote mutual benefit and win-win outcomes. Currently, preparations for the event have entered the final sprint stage, with over 300 companies participating, setting a new record for CAETE's serial events in Africa.

In addition to exhibitions, the event will organize several B2B matchmaking sessions for industry sub-sectors. Divided negotiation areas will be set based on the industrial development characteristics of both China and Morocco to further enhance the quality of economic and trade matchmaking. A new intelligent supply-demand matching platform featuring trilingual (Chinese, English, and French) service will be launched, where information such as business categories, main products, cooperation intentions, and development demands of all participating enterprises will be pre-entered for a preliminary demand analysis and initial pairing of enterprises.

As a crucial national-level platform for China-Africa economic and trade cooperation, the CAETE was established in Hunan in 2019. Held biennially, it has successfully concluded four sessions, with a cumulative total of 512 signed projects amounting to 64.71 billion USD. The expo has become a "golden bridge" for targeted matchmaking between Chinese and African enterprises. Starting in 2024, to deepen the implementation of China-Africa cooperation and broaden connection channels for localities and enterprises, the expo launched the Africa serial events for the first time during its off-year, successively taking place in Kenya and Nigeria. This year, the CAETE goes overseas again, landing in Morocco in the first half of the year and heading to South Africa in the second half.

"We look forward to incorporating more high-quality Moroccan products like essential oils and argan oil into the 'African Treasures' public brand system, enabling more great Moroccan goods to conveniently enter the Chinese market under the African brand umbrella," said Yang Yi, general manager of the Hunan Yufei Industrial Investment Co., Ltd. He has been leading efforts since the beginning of the year to define country-specific products, finalize exhibition plans, and coordinate processes, engaging in advance online negotiations with multiple Moroccan trading companies.

Data from the Changsha Customs Authority shows that, in the first four months of this year, Hunan's imports from Morocco reached 99.079 million CNY, a year-on-year increase of 33.7%. Among them, imports of agricultural products surged 250.5% to 2.869 million CNY.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government. www.enghunan.gov.cn.  

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn