Diplomatic Envoys of Four African Countries Visit Hunan

With Spring warmth awakening the flowers, ambassadors of Madagascar, Mali, Cameroon and Burundi went to Changsha, Hunan Province, for the 8th Lecture Tour of African Diplomatic Envoys. More than 100 people from the Commerce Bureau, the Development and Reform Commission and the Academy of Social Sciences of Hunan Province, Hunan Normal University as well as SOEs and private enterprises took part in the activity. Officials of the Ministry of Commerce and Hong Yonghong, Director of the African Legal and Social Research Center of

Xiangtan University, respectively gave special lectures on the development of economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa under the new circumstances and legal issues concerning investments in Africa. The ambassadors also visited the Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center, the Broad Group, and Sany Group.

In his briefing, the Ambassador of Cameroon said his country was stable and peaceful, offered convenient transportation and was rich in minerals and forestry resources. The government had set up bonded zones and welcomed investments from Chinese enterprises to exploit the minerals and forests. The Ambassador of Madagascar said the country was among world leaders in the possession of different kinds of minerals, and was known especially for having 40% of the world’s sapphire reserves; this offered bright prospects for exploitation by foreign investors. The Ambassador of Mali said that, thanks to vast arable land and the plentiful water supplied by the Niger River, Mali had become a leading agricultural nation in West Africa with cotton production ranked second on the continent. However, its planting and farming technologies, as well as the processing and storing techniques for agricultural products were comparatively old and underdeveloped, which hinder rural economic advancement. The envoy of Burundi, meanwhile, stressed abundant tourist resources with various famous drum dances, and expressed hope for exchanges with relevant Chinese art and cultural circles.

The Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center, the Broad Group, and the Sany Group as well as the Municipal Government of Zhangjiajie respectively had discussions on possibilities for cooperation. The Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center, known for its core scientist, the “Father of Hybrid Rice” Professor Yuan Longping, recently recorded a yield of nearly 1,000 kg per mu (1/6th of an acre), and expressed willingness to help the four African countries grow rice and realize the goal of grain self-sufficiency. The Sany Group, China’s biggest and world leading engineering machinery manufacturer especially in areas such as building, road-building and mining machinery, enjoys a large market share in Africa. All the four ambassadors invited the company to start business in their countries and set up machinery leasing centers. The Broad Group focuses on developing and constructing buildings with sustainable materials by using standard factory production lines that can reduce construction costs by 30% compared with conventional ways of building apartments with minimum damage to the surrounding environment, which is very suitable for third world countries. The ambassadors of Cameroon and Madagascar said the buildings constructed with sustainable materials offered a very practical new technology and they would like to send technicians to the company to learn it. They also welcomed the Broad Group to set up factories. Zhao Xiaoming, Mayor of Zhangjiajie, said, the city hosted a tourist festival of international folklore every year, and would be happy to have the drum groups of Burundi take part so as to enhance bilateral exchanges and cooperation.

The Lecture Tour of African Diplomatic Envoys pushed forward the mutual understanding and economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa, which has become a highlight and brand project of the CPAFFC’s work related to the continent and is sure to blossom further.