United global effort 'will benefit Africa'

China will collaborate with global partners to further benefit Africa while ensuring the fruits of its development can be shared by the world, said a senior Chinese researcher.

Wei Jianguo, deputy director of the think tank China Center for International Economic Exchanges and former vice-minister of commerce, told China Daily that investors in Africa play a complementary role and that there is enough space for multilateral cooperation. He was referring to investors such as Europe, the United States, Japan and emerging economies.

"China is still a latecomer compared with Europe and the US, but its development experience, hard work and respect for locals have been recognized as an advantage when exploring the African market. So when this can be combined with traditional and new players' advantages, such as technology and capital, Africa will benefit more from this multilateral cooperation."

Wei said that although China is just one of the players in the global market, it firmly believes that the fruits and opportunities of its development should be shared by all.

"Our development in Africa can be shared by Africans and other global partners," he said.

He said current economic reform in China is a good opportunity to transform its involvement in Africa.

"China's economy is slowing down because it is reforming its economic structure, which will bring Africa more development opportunities. We mainly exported finished products to, and imported raw materials from, Africa, but after this transformation China will put more efforts into building industries in Africa to process local resources into products and commodities."

Thus the previous trade-led relationship between China and Africa will be upgraded to enhance Africa's industrialization, Wei added.

African nations' economies have developed tremendously during the past few decades, he said, so China's engagement with Africa should meet those nations' own development demands in industrialization and modernization of agriculture. He said these are the most successful sectors of China's development after reform and opening-up started in the late 1970s, so its experience and other lessons could be passed on to Africa.

"Africa has been suffering from food insecurity and cannot produce enough agricultural products to meet demand. But China's experiences in agriculture during the past three decades have proved that it can feed nearly 20 percent of the world population with only 7 percent of the arable land. Thus, helping Africa develop its agricultural sector is a more feasible approach to eliminating poverty and fostering sustainable development, since it has better land, weather and labor conditions."

Yan Lin contributed to this story.