Does the China-Africa Trade Expo Matter?

According to Chinese official statistics, the total trade value between China and Africa hit an all-time high in 2022, at $276.5 billion, reflecting a 14.5 percent increase compared to the previous year. Importantly, imports from Africa accounted for $114.9 billion, a 14.2 percent year-to-year rise.

The unique aspect of this trade relationship is not the figures, however; it’s the types of activities China has used to promote trade. A key example is the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE). The expo was first held in China’s Hunan province in June 2019 and has been held every two years since, with the third edition about to take place. Organized by China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), the CAETE is the only economic and trade cooperation platform within the broader Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) framework. It’s unusual because few other African trade partners hold these sorts of promotional events.

The first expo saw the signing of 84 cooperation deals worth $20.8 billion, covering aviation, tourism, manufacturing, and infrastructure, among other sectors. China Global Television Network (CGTN) reported that at least 1,000 African guests and traders attended this first expo. Our own team at Development Reimagined organized a dedicated space for several African brands to showcase their value-added products to Chinese consumers.

As a pilot, the CAETE certainly showed off China-Africa economic diplomacy, as well as the local government’s strong intention to engage further with the continent. And even at the company level, the African brands that participated did find themselves for the first time genuinely excited about the potential of the Chinese market.

The second expo was both more and less successful than the pilot. It was eventually held in September 2021, when the world was still in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. While China was fairly open internally, its...............