Starting from the Hunan flavor, the five-level advancement of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo

The 4th China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo opened in Changsha on June 12th.

More than 30,000 people from 53 African countries, 11 international organizations, 27 provincial administrative regions and municipalities in China, and over 4,700 Chinese and African enterprises and other institutions gathered in Changsha.

On the morning of June 12th, the 4th China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo opened at the Changsha International Conference Center in Hunan Province.

Since the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo was established in Hunan Province in 2019, it has become a golden brand for China-Africa economic and trade cooperation.

According to the official promotion, over the past six years, the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo has been advancing from the "exhibition start-up period" to the "brand maturity period".

This is specifically reflected in the transformation from "exhibition traffic" to "economic and trade increment", from "short-term activities" to "long-term mechanisms", from "government-led" to "market-driven", and from "regional platforms" to "global hubs".

Guanchao Jun, who attended the entire opening ceremony, found that apart from the above four types, there is actually another "advancement", which is frugality and pragmatism.

Transform from "exhibition traffic" to "economic and trade increment"

Entering the permanent exhibition hall of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in Gaoqiao Market, Changsha, more than 800 kinds of African characteristic products such as Rwandan chili sauce, Kenyan malachite bracelets and South African red wine are on display.

These "African-flavored" products are precisely a microcosm of the "traffic monetization" of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo.

The African Goods Zone in the permanent exhibition hall of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo.

In 2024, the trade volume between China and Africa reached 295.6 billion US dollars, setting a new historical high. China has remained Africa's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years.

Against this backdrop, the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo has become a "bridgehead" for cooperation between China and Africa at the local level.

According to the Department of Commerce of Hunan Province, the total amount of signed cooperation projects at the first three expos has reached as high as 53.32 billion US dollars, with a fulfillment and implementation rate exceeding 83%.

The expo demonstrated a strong "product promotion power", helping African quality products enter China and enabling Hunan-made products to take root in Africa.

Take coffee as an example. Data shows that in the first four months of 2025, the import of African coffee in Changsha increased by 288% year-on-year, and six industrial chains including cashew nuts, cocoa and coffee have initially taken shape.

Meanwhile, Hunan's advantageous industries such as equipment manufacturing, agricultural science and technology, and consumer electronics have also "borne fruit" in the African market.

For instance, in 2024, the sales of Sany Heavy Industry's Africa region exceeded 4 billion yuan, and the number of equipment in use surpassed 23,000 units.

Inside the Hunan Image Museum, a scroll of "Hunan and Africa Moving Forward Together" that transcends mountains and seas is slowly unfolding.

Kas is from Burundi and is currently a full-time researcher at the Institute of China-Africa Studies of Xiangtan University. He believes that the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo has a distinct feature of transforming from "exhibition traffic" to "economic and trade increment".

Cass gave an example, saying that during the first China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in 2019, Rwandan businessmen promoted local peppers and coffee beans in Changsha. Nowadays, these two products have entered the Chinese market, and enterprises in Hunan have also joined hands with Rwanda to build pepper planting bases.

Just the two items of chili peppers and coffee beans have driven more than 20,000 farmers in Rwanda to increase their income, demonstrating the transformation path of "showcasing products - capacity building - long-term trade cooperation".

In May this year, three freight trains of the Xiang-Guangdong-Africa rail-sea intermodal transport to North Africa made their first departures one after another.

With the support of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, over the past six years, Hunan's trade volume with Africa has tripled, reaching 54.85 billion yuan in 2024. The scale has remained the largest among the central and western provinces for many consecutive years. Transform from "short-term activities" to "long-term mechanisms"

The expo event lasts only a few days, but China-Africa economic and trade cooperation is long-term. Hunan is building a three-dimensional cooperation network of "expo + pilot zone + long-term mechanism".

The China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo is the largest national and international economic and trade cooperation platform in Hunan Province. The Pilot zone for In-depth Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Africa has been approved for construction, becoming another national-level platform for economic and trade cooperation between Hunan and Africa.

Xu Xiangping, the president of the Hunan Province China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation Promotion Research Association, said in an interview with Guanchao Jun that this is "one platform and one carrier" under China-Africa economic and trade cooperation.

"One platform" refers to the expo, and "one carrier" refers to the pilot zone.

Hunan, based on "one platform and one carrier", has been constantly fostering new models of trade, investment and financial cooperation between China and Africa.

The Pilot Zone for In-depth Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Africa located in Changsha, Hunan Province. (Source: Xinhua News Agency)

For instance, 14 cities and prefectures in Hunan Province have established counterpart cooperation mechanisms with 28 African countries.

Among them, Changsha, relying on the free Trade Zone, has built a China-Africa economic and trade headquarters base, and its trade volume with Africa has exceeded 10 billion yuan. Wig products from Shaoyang account for 30% of the market share in Africa, with an annual export volume of 1.39 billion yuan.

For instance, Hunan Province has pioneered the "Pre-Assessment System for African Food Export to China" in the country. With the support of the General Administration of Customs, it has promoted products such as Guinea-Bissau cashew nuts and Madagascar mutton to obtain export access to China.

For instance, Hunan Province took the lead in launching a pilot program for new barter trade with non-local currencies, exploring a trading model of "FTN account + local currency settlement".

In June 2023, farmers in Madagascar were harvesting hybrid rice. (Image source: Website of the People's Government of Hunan Province)

In the view of He Yun, a member of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the vice president of the African Studies Institute of Hunan University, the transformation of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo from a "short-term event" to a "long-term mechanism" is most driven by the complementary industrial structures between Hunan and Africa. For instance, Hunan's construction machinery, high-tech agriculture, and light industrial processing are indispensable in Africa's industrial upgrading.

At the promotion event for the implementation plans of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation projects held on June 13th, the first batch of implementation plans for China-Africa industrial chain cooperation projects will be released.

This indicates that the closer the "chain" between China and Africa, the tighter it becomes.

The transformation from "government-led" to "market-driven"

From the first to the fourth session, the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo has been constantly exploring on the path of marketization.

In May this year, at a press conference held by the Information Office of The State Council, the Department of Commerce of Hunan Province introduced that the organizing committee of the 4th China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo has done a good job in pre-event matching, in-event matchmaking and post-event services for both suppliers and buyers, promoting trade transactions and making business entities feel more benefited.

It is reported that the number of exhibitors at the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo has increased by 70% compared with the previous session. More than 4,700 Chinese and African enterprises, business associations and financial institutions participated in the fourth China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, which was more than double that of the third one.

This indicates that market-oriented investment promotion has been relatively successful.

African luggage is favored by Chinese female customers. (Source: China News Service)

The relevant person in charge of the organizing committee introduced that in order to truly benefit enterprises, this expo has been closely centered around the industrial demands of China and Africa from the setting of exhibition areas, activity planning to project matching.

This time, for the first time in the main exhibition hall, special exhibition areas such as the Exhibition of Well-known Brands of China-Africa Cooperation, the Exhibition of African Good Products, and the Exhibition of China-Africa Culture and Tourism have been set up, attracting well-known enterprises in related fields to participate.

For instance, leading African local enterprises such as Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines have all signed up to participate in the exhibition.

This expo also entrusted enterprises from Hunan for the first time to assist the guest country in organizing and planning, investment promotion and exhibition recruitment, etc., to enhance the economic and trade effectiveness of the exhibition.

In the comprehensive exhibition hall, the image booths of various African countries and domestic provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities are dazzling.

During this year's Canton Fair, the fourth China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo held a special promotion event in Guangzhou, attracting the attention of more enterprises.

Xu Xiangping used to be the director of the Department of Commerce of Hunan Province and was one of the organizers of the first China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo. He said that running the expo well cannot do without the guidance and support of government departments, but it is even more important to focus on market-oriented operation. The expo should achieve a sense of gain for both the government and the market. Transform from a "regional platform" to a "global hub"

The Fourth China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo was attended by a large number of international guests, which was inherently a global narrative.

Relying on the organizing mechanism of "Hunan providing the stage, the whole country performing, and China and Africa sharing", this year's China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo will host 30 various economic and trade activities, covering themes such as industrial chain cooperation, green minerals, and infrastructure. Among them, African countries held the largest number of events in history.

Over the years, in addition to the increasingly strong "international flavor" of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, important events such as the China-Africa Private Economy Cooperation Forum, the China-Africa Women's Forum, the 7th China-Africa People-To-People Forum, and the 7th China-Africa Youth Leaders Forum have been held in Hunan one after another......