Hunan Province Aims to Boost Economic and Trade Cooperation with Africa

Strategic Insights -

Hunan Province in central China has been at the forefront of exploring new business models and strengthening institutional innovation and policy coordination with Africa. The province's economic and trade cooperation with Africa has been growing steadily, with Hunan being the first province in central and western China to rank top in terms of trade volume with Africa for five consecutive years. Shen Xiaoming, Party secretary of Hunan, emphasized the importance of promoting new barter trade with Africa, aligning with the country's initiatives to build an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.

Key Takeaways:

  • Hunan Province aims to boost economic and trade cooperation with Africa by exploring new business models and strengthening institutional innovation and policy coordination.
  • The province has been at the forefront of promoting new barter trade with Africa, with 103 new barter trade transactions completed to date, ranking Hunan top in China in terms of Africa-oriented barter trade volume.
  • Hunan is positioning itself as a hub for equipment manufacturing, energy, power, mining, and mineral processing, with a strong focus on industrialization and agricultural modernization in Africa.
  • The province is actively exploring the implementation of pilot reforms in new types of barter trade with African countries, with measures such as moving inspection and testing institutions closer to the entry point.
  • Hunan has made significant efforts in reforming its market-based allocation of production factors, with an overall logistics cost decrease of 0.2 percentage point and industrial and commercial electricity prices dropping by 6 percentage points last year.
  • The province has established economic and trade partnerships with 235 countries and regions and has attracted investment from 212 Fortune Global 500 companies.
  • The China (Hunan) Pilot Free Trade Zone has achieved 109 institutional innovations, welcomed more than 48,000 enterprises, and attracted investment totaling nearly 740 billion yuan since its establishment five years ago.
  • The Hunan-Hainan Advanced Manufacturing Industrial Park has become a key hub for the export and maintenance of manufacturing products, attracting 29 projects with a total investment of 13.02 billion yuan.

Statistics:

  • 103 new barter trade transactions completed to date (chinadaily.com.cn)
  • Hunan Province's foreign trade volume with Africa has ranked first among provinces in central and western China for five consecutive years (chinadaily.com.cn)
  • Hunan's overall logistics cost decreased by 0.2 percentage point last year (local authorities)
  • Industrial and commercial electricity prices dropped by 6 percentage points last year (local authorities)
  • 212 Fortune Global 500 companies have invested in Hunan (chinadaily.com.cn)
  • Hunan has established economic and trade partnerships with 235 countries and regions (chinadaily.com.cn)
  • The China (Hunan) Pilot Free Trade Zone has achieved 109 institutional innovations (chinadaily.com.cn)
  • The free trade zone has welcomed more than 48,000 enterprises (chinadaily.com.cn)
  • The zone has attracted investment totaling nearly 740 billion yuan since its establishment (chinadaily.com.cn)
  • The Hunan-Hainan Advanced Manufacturing Industrial Park has attracted 29 projects with a total investment of 13.02 billion yuan (chinadaily.com.cn)
  • The zone has recorded an import-export volume exceeding 800 billion yuan, accounting for approximately one-third of the province's total (local authorities)

Sources:

  • chinadaily.com.cn
  • local authorities