By Adhere Cavince
Between April 28 and May 12, the biggest shopping promotion for African goods in China will take place. Bringing together 300 e-commerce platforms, over one million traders and product portfolio in excess of 100, 000 brands, the shopping festival is the clearest indication yet of the growing trade and economic ties between Beijing and different African capitals. Powered by technology, the event will grant Chinese consumers real-time interaction with high quality production bases in 23 African countries.
Trade has been the most dominant feature of Sino-Africa ties. For twelve years in a row, China has been Africa’s biggest trade partner, after displacing the United States from the top slot in 2009. Since the founding of the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2000, the volumes of trade between the two sides have grown more than twenty-fold to hit an all-time high of US$ 254 billion in 2021.
Even in the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, China-Africa trade has been resilient and on the uptick. In the first quarter of 2022, for instance, trade between the two sides increased by 24.5% compared to the same period last year, to hit US$ 64.9 billion. In the quarter, China did more trade with African countries compared to the total value of US-Africa trade for 2021.
The festival will be instrumental in addressing a number of concerns in the Sino-Africa trade cooperation. First, it will promote greater visibility of the African products to the Chinese consumers. Through technology, African enterprises will be in a position to effectively market their products including Kenyan black tea, Ethiopian coffee, and Rwandan chili sauce to the Chinese market.
Secondly, the shopping bonanza also showcases the potential of the African produce and manufacturing market to the Chinese investors. Additional Chinese investments in Africa’s production sectors will see more quality products come out of the continent, a measure that will significantly ease the trade imbalance between the two sides while granting Chinese consumers more product options.
Thirdly, the festival allows Africa to learn from China’s very successful e-commerce sector. Marked by online marketing, online transactions and contactless payment, digital commerce has become one of the dominant features of the Chinese economy; with monumental benefits. Digital inclusion has provided China with a firm platform to create incomes for rural residents and chalk a path out of poverty. Integrated systems have made service delivery easy, cheap and efficient. These are crucial learning points for African countries.
The future of China-Africa partnership is certainly going to be largely shaped by technology. The Dakar 2021 FOCAC Action Plan clearly articulates the steps China and Africa are going to take in order to firm up digital partnership. Harnessing the potential of cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and mobile internet – all of which are crucial to sustainable ecommerce, have been prioritized.
China has also committed to assist African countries build digital connectivity infrastructure under the purview of the Digital Silk Road. In Kenya, China has financed the construction of the Konza Data Centre and smart city. The region’s first cloud infrastructure is already providing digital solutions to a number of companies. Earlier this month, the Huawei backed undersea cable landed in Mombasa, in a move that promises to foster digital inclusion in Kenya and the rest of the continent.
All these investments improve the ability of Kenya and other African countries to effectively participate in domestic and cross-border ecommerce activities such as the ongoing shopping festival. Trade presents one of the most formidable pathways out of poverty as more trade means farmers are getting value for their produce while additional people are getting engaged in the manufacturing hubs and other supply value chains.
With participation from 23 African countries, the festival is another demonstration of the dynamic and innovative trade and economic partnership between China and Africa. While the global health crisis has dampened opportunities for international travel, technology is offering new frontiers of collaboration and keeping cross-border shipments and transactions between China and Africa going.
The writer is a scholar of international relations with a focus on China-Africa cooperation. Twitter: @Cavinceworld.
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