China Open to Boosting Trade Ties with Africa(2007-5-16)
May 16, 2007
China welcomes African financial companies to establish a foothold in the country and encourages domestic firms to invest in the continent, the nation's central bank governor said yesterday in Shanghai.
China encourages companies, especially the small and medium-size private firms, to seek investment opportunities in the continent to tap the huge and potentially lucrative African market, said Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, at the annual general meeting of the African Development Bank in Shanghai yesterday.
"The cooperation between China and Africa is important," said Zhou. "China is willing to play its role in the development of Asia-Africa cooperation."
More than 800 Chinese companies have invested in Africa so far as economic links between China and Africa strengthen, more than double the figure in 1999 when 350 Chinese companies did business in the continent.
China encourages more cooperation in the financial sector, he said.
Chinese financial enterprises are attaching more importance to doing business in Africa and are granting more capital to such firms to do so.
For instance, China Development Bank, a major policy bank, has outstanding loans totaling US$1 billion in Africa.
"Fund flows between developing countries are becoming more important as more Asian countries become net capital exporters," Zhou said. "Asian countries have more opportunity to strengthen cooperation with African countries not only in trade but also in terms of capital flow."
Zhou also cautioned that developing countries should not put too much of their foreign exchange reserves in investments in Europe or America.
China's foreign exchange reserves have already exceeded more than US$1.2 trillion as the world's biggest [ShanghaiDaily News].