On August 26, 2021, Director-General of the Department of African Affairs of the Foreign Ministry Wu Peng attended and delivered a keynote speech at the Launching Ceremony of the Report on Chinese Investment in Africa held online by the China-Africa Business Council (CABC). Professor of Peking University Lin Yifu, Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Wamkele Mene, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Vera Songwe, and President of African Development Bank Akinwumi A. Adesina addressed the ceremony. Participants included the envoys of African nations to China, scholars and entrepreneurs from both home and abroad.
Wu Peng said that investment cooperation is a strong engine for the qualitative upgrading of the pragmatic cooperation between China and African nations. China is one of the largest investors in Africa. In the 20-year history of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the annual growth of China's direct investment in Africa averages over 25 percent. Despite the negative impact of COVID-19, China's investment in Africa climbed from 2.71 billion U.S. dollars in 2019 to 2.96 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. The shining achievements bring the hope of economic recovery against the pandemic. In addition to the quantitative increase, China's investment in Africa also presents a qualitative leap forward to make great contributions to the industrialization and employment in the African continent. Excellent Chinese companies such as Huawei and Transsion are committed to the information, communications, and other emerging sectors in Africa and presented a number of "high-quality" flagship investment projects. Chinese companies are "newcomers" investing in Africa. They are shifting from "going to Africa" to "rooting in Africa". We encourage Chinese companies to blend with local communities, assume social responsibilities, and create benefits for the local people. In the meantime, the governments of China and African nations should do their best to improve the investment environment.
Wu Peng pointed out that this year the new session of the FOCAC will be held in Senegal's capital Dakar to identify the development directions for the pragmatic China-Africa cooperation in such fields as trade, investment, health, poverty alleviation, and digital economy and help tap greater potential of the China-Africa comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership. At the China-Africa Internet Development and Cooperation Forum held two days ago, Assistant Foreign Minister Deng Li announced that China is ready to work with Africa to formulate and implement a China-Africa Partnership Plan on Digital Innovation to boost China-Africa digital cooperation. Chinese and African companies are encouraged to grasp the rare opportunities brought by China's new journey toward building a modern socialist country in all respects and the accelerating progress of AfCFTA to align the Chinese and African development strategies, combine the Belt and Road development and the African Union Agenda 2063, and help raise and upgrade the quality of China-Africa cooperation.
The Report on Chinese Investment in Africa is a project of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on China-Africa joint research and exchange. Composed by over 50 experts and researchers of the CABC, the report presents 63 cases involving more than 350 Chinese companies and 320 entrepreneurs to showcase Chinese companies' investment cooperation efforts in Africa and their contributions to Africa's social and economic development, concludes the experiences in China-Africa investment cooperation, and proposes suggestions on the future development.
