WELCOME: Vice Premier Hui Liangyu meets Cameroonian President Paul Biya (ZHAO YINGQUAN)

Agricultural focus

An important part of Hui's portfolios is agricultural development. During his visit to Africa, he therefore attended several agreement signing ceremonies of agricultural cooperation between China and African countries.

"China's cooperation with African countries in agricultural sector is on the rise and has great potential," Dong Renjie, Director of the Office of International Relations of China Agricultural University, told ChinAfrica.

On December 23, 2010, the Chinese Government issued a white paper on China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation, which also reviewed China's cooperation with Africa in the agriculture sector. "Agriculture is the pillar industry of most African countries and a priority field for China-Africa economic and trade cooperation," said the white paper.

According to the white paper, by the end of 2009, China had helped to build 142 agricultural projects in Africa such as pilot agro-technical stations, stations for popularizing agricultural techniques, and farms. China has launched 14 agricultural technology demonstration centers on the continent, and provided a large amount of agricultural materials and equipment. Meanwhile, the Chinese Government also encourages Chinese enterprises in Africa to invest in agricultural product processing and development projects.

Agricultural trade between China and Africa also witnessed great increase in recent years. According to data released at the China-Africa Agricultural Forum held in Beijing last August, the trade volume of agricultural products in 2009 hit $2.65 billion, more than four-fold that of 2000. China's investment in this area has exceeded $134 million.

"Africa has vast land and sound farming conditions with huge potentials in agricultural development," stressed Dong. According to the forum, the DRC alone has 137 million hectares of arable land, almost the same area as that of China.

"Africa should serve as the stabilizer of grain production in the world market. To achieve this goal, we need to cooperate," said Dong.

Trade & Investment Statistics between China and the Five African Countries Visited by Vice Premier Hui Liangyu:

Mauritius:

Bilateral trade: $320 million

Cumulative direct investment of Chinese enterprises: $290 million

China's cumulative turnover in contracted engineering projects: $630 million

Zambia:

Bilateral trade : $2.18 billion

Cumulative direct investment of Chinese enterprises: $1.3 billion

China's cumulative turnover in contracted engineering projects: $1.64 billion [by Oct. 2010]

D.R. Congo:

Bilateral trade : $2.38 billion

Cumulative direct investment of Chinese enterprises: $230 million [2009 only]

Cameroon:

Bilateral trade: $850 million

Cumulative direct investment of Chinese enterprises: $630 million

Senegal:

Bilateral trade: $460 million

China's cumulative turnover in contracted engineering projects: $930 million

Source: Ministry of Commerce of China

Bilateral trade: Jan.-Oct. 2010