China set to double bilateral trade with Africa by 2010

Trade deals worth R13.98bn signed up Clive Emdon CHINA INTENDS to more than double its bilateral trade with Africa to $100bn (R733bn) by 2010, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao said last week Trade deals worth $1.9bn (R13.8bn) were announced at the China Africa summit in Beijing this month. According to an AFP-Sapa report, the contracts were part of ambitious plans unveiled by the Chinese Premier. Sixteen contracts covered co-operation in natural resources, infrastructure, finance, technology, textiles and communications, said Wan Jifei, chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. The deals with 10 African countries came at the end of a trade conference attended by 1 500 Chinese and African businessmen that was held alongside the two-day summit of national leaders. By far the biggest deal was one worth $938m (R6.9bn) for China’s state-owned CITIC conglomerate to set up an aluminium plant in Egypt. Chinese firms also clinched a $300m (R2.2bn) deal to renovate a highway in Nigeria, signed a contract to build a telephone line in Ghana at a cost of $30m (R220m) and agreed to set up a $60m (R440m) textile business in Sudan. A new copper project worth $200m (R1.5m) in Zambia was also announced, along with plans to build a $55m (R403m) cement factory in Cape Verde. A mining contract worth $230m (1.7bn) was signed with South Africa. Trade between China and Africa in 2005 amounted to $39.7bn (R291bn) - nearly a tenfold increase from 1995 - and was likely to reach $50bn (R366bn) this year, according to Chinese officials.