China-Africa economic and trade expo: Building bridges for development

By Alexander Ayertey Odonkor

The fourth China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo kicks off in Changsha, Central China’s Hunan Province, June 12, 2025. /CFP

The fourth China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE) is being held in Changsha, the capital city of Central China’s Hunan Province, from June 12 to 15. Themed “China and Africa: Together Toward Modernization,” this year’s expo features 30 economic and trade activities in various fields including modern agricultural machinery, clean energy, industrial chains, traditional medicine, smart mining technology and equipment, cultural industries and youth entrepreneurship.

As of June 11, over 300,000 participants from 53 African countries, 27 Chinese provincial-level regions and 11 international organizations, and more than 4,700 Chinese and African enterprises, business associations, and financial institutions have registered to attend the conference and the exhibition.

Launched in 2019, the biennial expo, co-sponsored by China’s Ministry of Commerce and the Hunan provincial government, has held three sessions over the past six years and witnessed the signing of a total of 336 cooperation projects worth $53.32 billion.

Since its inception, CAETE has undeniably evolved into a major event, becoming a potent catalyst for strengthening China-Africa cooperation, realizing wide participation by 53 African countries and 31 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.

CAETE is not a single case. Over the years, China has increasingly leveraged its exhibition industry to promote higher-standard opening-up, sharing its development opportunities with the world. According to a report from the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the country in 2024 alone hosted 3,844 economic and trade events with its total exhibition space increasing 10.1 percent year-on-year, reaching 155 million square meters.

For Chinese enterprises, the exhibition industry, including platforms like CAETE, promote people-to-people exchanges, enhance international cooperation and also serve as a springboard that facilitates expansion into Africa and other global markets.

At the fourth CAETE, event organizers have hinted at an estimated sum of 128 cooperation projects with a total value exceeding $7 billion proposed for signing or matchmaking during the expo, spanning areas including transportation, healthcare, energy, manufacturing, information services and culture.

For African countries, such new opportunities not only improve access to China’s vast market, but also help attract Chinese investments in critical sectors such as agriculture, clean energy, transport, healthcare and manufacturing.

Despite abundant natural resources, the continent has been fighting an uphill battle to unlock the potential of the continent’s value-added industries, modernize agriculture and drive industrialization, in a bid to foster job creation, support economic growth and improve living standards. This is exactly where platforms like CAETE can play a key role, acting as a source of technology transfer, infrastructure financing, and skills transfer. By establishing cooperation agreements with their Chinese counterparts and other relevant organizations, African enterprises can thereby ratchet up their efforts in helping transform and upgrade the continent’s traditional sectors.

For the first time, special exhibitions will showcase well-established China-Africa cooperation brands, high-quality African products and China-Africa cooperation in tourism and Chinese medicine at the expo.

For African enterprises, the new initiatives at the fourth CAETE, such as giving all least developed countries having diplomatic relations with China – including 33 countries in Africa, zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent tariff lines, should definitely help enhance the visibility of African brands in the Chinese market, unlock new growth opportunities for China-Africa trade and investment and inject new impetus into Africa’s development through enhanced trade and investment.

Excavators for export to Guinea are hoisted onto a cargo vessel of the China-Africa Shipping Line at Yantai Port, East China’s Shandong Province, February 26, 2025. /CFP

Against the headwind of growing protectionism and rising trade tensions, a threat to economic globalization, trade and investment remains the cornerstone of China-Africa cooperation, providing invaluable opportunities for both parties and beyond.

For 16 consecutive years, China has been the continent’s largest trading partner. 2024 witnessed China-Africa trade volume surpassing the threshold of 2.1 trillion yuan ($290 billion) for the first time. And such robust momentum continues this year, with China-Africa trade volume from January to May hitting a record high, increasing 12.4 percent year-on-year to about $ 134 billion.

As trade and investments are the mainstays of economic development, providing essential support for both sides to jointly advance modernization, new cooperation projects in key sectors including clean energy, digitalization and smart manufacturing expected to be launched at the fourth CAETE will help build up new growth drivers both for Africa and for the world’s second-largest economy.

Over the years, Chinese investments in Africa’s key sectors, including agriculture, energy, transport and manufacturing, have served the common interests of the two parties. For years, Chinese-backed industrial parks and economic zones in African countries including the Zambia-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Nigeria, Ethiopia’s Kombolcha Industrial Park and the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone have supported the modernization drive by generating more job opportunities and boosting trade prosperity.

For African economies, Chinese-backed infrastructure projects are often seen as a source of employment and skills transfer, the latter of which helps Africa’s economies diversify from traditional sectors to high-quality industries, foster local innovation and ultimately, facilitate the continent’s integration into global value chains.

As new growth opportunities keep emerging under China-Africa cooperation, platforms such as CAETE indisputably play a vital role in building a close-knit China-Africa community with a shared future, as they ensure that economic and trade gains serve the common interests of both sides.

Alexander Ayertey Odonkor, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is a global economist with a keen interest in the social, environmental and economic landscape of both developing and developed countries, particularly in Asia, Africa and Europe.