Ｃｏｎｔｉｎｕｏｕｓ Ｄｅｖｅｌｏｐｍｅｎｔ ｏｆ Ｓｉｎｏ－Ａｆｒｉｃａｎ Ｔｒａｄｅ

The Year 2006 marks the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and African countries. Sino-African trade has also experienced half a century development. Over the past five decades， Sino-African trade has beenincreasingly frequent in contact， gradually expanding in size，continuously improving in quality and ever enriching in contents. The close trade ties are a clear proof of the all-round friendly cooperative relations between China and Africa.

Sino-African trade volume was a mere US$ 12 million in 1950， grew to US$34.74 million in 1955， and reachedUS$ 250 million in 1965，the highest in the 1960s. Since carrying out reform and opening up in the 1980s， China has attached great importance to friendly cooperation with African countries and Sino-African trade has an annual growth of 3.6 percent on average. Bilateral total export and import volume kept growing throughout the 1990s， during which quite a few years saw an increase of over 40 percent. In 2000， bilateral trade volume for the first time exceeded US$ 10 billion， and in 2005 it hit US$ 39.74 billion， more than 800 times as big as that of 50 years ago.

The most striking characteristic of the development of Sino-African trade is continuous acceleration of its growth rate. It took 10 years to increase from US$ 10 million to US$ 100 million， 20 years from US$ 100 million to US$ 1 billion， also 20 years from US$ 1 billion to US$ 10 billion， but only 4 years from US$ 10.8 billion in 2000 to nearly US$ 40 billion in 2005. Particularly， since 2001 Sino-African trade has shown a yearly increase of about 40 percent， fully demonstrating that Sino-African trade has a huge potential and broad space for development.

Another characteristic of the development of Sino-African trade is the fundamental change of its quality. The commodity mix has been constantly optimized. In the 1950s trade was mainly in primary products such as cotton， agricultural and mineral products. During the 1960s and the 1970s it was mainly in textile and other light industrial products， while China’s export ofmanufactured and semi-manufactured products was gradually increasing. In the 1990s China’s exports gradually shifted from mainly labour-intensive products such as textiles and other light industrial products to mainly machinery and electrical equipment with higher technology and added value. Since 2000， China’s export of machinery， electrical equipment and high-tech products has accounted for over 50 percent of its total export to Africa.

The third characteristic of Sino-African trade is its increasingly diversified ways. Sino-African trade has developed from escrow trade， barter trade and trade by double-track spot exchange to currently mainly trade by spot exchange. Now Sino-African trade has developed from non-governmental trade in early days to a combination of general trade with foreign investment， contracted projects， foreign aid， etc.. What is most prominent is that China’s trade partners have increased a great deal， spreading from a few North African countries including Egypt， Morocco and Tunisia in the 1950s and the 1960s to every corner of Africa today. Particularly， the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Africa whose economy is most developed in the continent has vigorously boosted the development of Sino-African trade. By 2005， there were 26 African countries to whom China’s export exceeded US$100 million and 18 from whom China’s import exceeded US$100 million.

Since the beginning of the 21st century， Sino-African trade relations have become even closer with more notable results and further improved quality. China has successively established trade relations with over 50 African countries and regions， signed bilateral trade agreement with more than 40 countries， set up joint (mixed) committee on trade and economic cooperation with 35 countries， signed the Agreement on Bilateral Facilitation and Protection of Investment with 28 countries and the Agreement on Avoidance of Double Taxation with 8 African countries. Since 2005 China has granted duty-free market access for 190 kinds of commodities imported from 29 least developed African countries， most of these imported goods being African countries’ advantageous products. These mutually beneficial agreements， mechanism and policies have undoubtedly played a positive role in promoting sustained development of Sino- African trade.

We have every reason to believe that 50-year close cooperation and contacts have brought about the glorious past achievements of Sino-African trade and that both China and Africa will further push forward bilateral trade to greet its brighter future.

The author is council member of the China Society of International Trade.