Closer trade, economic relations are set to soar

Having launched its Guangzhou-Nairobi direct flight and extended flight services to other African cities through a codeshare agreement with Kenya Airways over the past year, Guangzhou-headquartered China Southern Airlines is considering another direct flight to Africa, a senior airline executive said.

A possible destination is either Cairo or Lagos, said Wu Weijun, general manager of the company's operation in Kenya, during a ceremony celebrating the first anniversary of China's first and only direct flight from Guangzhou to the African continent in early August.

Wu attributed both the decision to launch the direct flight to Nairobi and the expansion plan primarily to the intensifying market demand from China's Belt and Road Initiative and, consequentially, closer trade and economic cooperative relations, cultural exchanges and booming tourism between Guangdong and Africa.

The airline might gain confidence in the African market from the convincing findings of a study headed by the development research center of the provincial government on Guangdong's investments in Africa.

Released in Guangzhou on Monday, the findings said that the province's foreign trade with Africa was worth $43.1 billion in 2015, accounting for 24.1 percent of the nation's total compared to 18 percent in 2011. The figure was only $2.8 billion in 2003.

Wang Yiyang, head of the center, said Guangdong's closer relations with Africa has found easy evidence in investments, education and tourism.

He said that businesspeople from Guangdong set up 28 investment projects worth $510 million in Africa in 2015 alone, triple the number from the previous year; and utilized capital of $73 million, more than double the number from 2014.

Guangdong-funded projects had totaled 176 by the end of last year, with total contract value of $1.5 billion, most of which had been carried out by the private sector, he said.

Meanwhile, the government-funded Ogun Free Trade Zone in Nigeria, one of the first eight free trade zones abroad approved by the Chinese government, has become an exemplary free trade zone in Africa by modeling on successful development zones in Guangdong.

Wang said bilateral scientific and technological cooperation has also been on the fast track, citing examples such as Foshan University's cooperation with South Africa on crucial technology for corn production.

In education, the province took in 4,508 students from Africa and trained 621 healthcare officials and technicians from more than 30 African countries last year.

As for tourism, the province posted 658,600 visitors to Africa in 2015, up by 126 percent from a year ago, and received 353,400 visitors from Africa, falling 5.6 percent, he said.

(China Daily 08/31/2016 page12)