China (Linyi) - Economic and Trade Dialogue with African Diplomatic Envoys Held Successfully
On July 10, the China (Linyi) – African Ambassadors in China Economic and Trade Dialogue was successfully held in Linyi, Shandong Province. Supported by China Economic and Trade Magazine, the event was co-organized by the Publicity Department of the CPC Linyi Municipal Committee, the Foreign Affairs Office of Linyi Municipal People’s Government and Linyi Integrated Media Center. A group of diplomatic envoys gathered in Linyi, including Baudelaire Ndong Ella, Ambassador of Gabon to China; Allan Joseph Chintedza, Ambassador of Malawi to China; Ndiaye M. Lamine, First Counsellor of the Embassy of Cameroon in China; and Ndeye Aminata Diop, Second Counsellor of the Embassy of Senegal in China. Yu Shengtao, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Linyi Municipal Committee and Mayor of Linyi, attended the event and delivered a welcome address. Hua Yan, Vice President of China Economic and Trade Magazine, as well as Linyi municipal leaders Zhang Xiaobin and Li Wuji, were also present.The event aims to deepen economic and trade exchanges as well as practical cooperation between Linyi and African regions, empower local enterprises to "go global" and explore overseas markets, boost the coordinated development of bilateral trade and production capacity investment, and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results for local China-Africa economic and trade cooperation.
In his opening speech, Yu Shengtao, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Linyi Municipal Committee and Mayor of Linyi, stated that as a key node city under the Belt and Road Initiative, Linyi has maintained close economic and trade ties with African countries in recent years, featuring robust driving forces and strong momentum for cooperation. Taking this event as a new opportunity, Linyi will join hands with African partners to unclog major arteries for commercial circulation, paint grand blueprints for industrial capacity cooperation, and build bridges connecting the hearts of peoples. Together, we will write a brand-new chapter of hand-in-hand progress and win-win prosperity for local China-Africa economic and trade cooperation.
Baudelaire Ndong Ella, Ambassador of the Republic of Gabon to China, remarked that Linyi, renowned as China’s City of Markets and Capital of Logistics, serves as a vital national commodity distribution hub brimming with tremendous business cooperation opportunities.Gabon stands as a highly promising investment destination in Central Africa. Boasting sound and mature governance systems and an open economic policy, the country actively promotes public-private partnerships and welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest in priority sectors including infrastructure construction and energy.He expressed the hope that both sides will establish a regular platform for economic, trade and investment exchanges, and jointly forge a long-term, stable and mutually beneficial cooperative partnership.
Allan Joseph Chintedza, Ambassador of the Republic of Malawi to China, stated that Linyi is committed to accelerating the internationalization of its commercial city and supporting local enterprises to explore overseas markets, which is highly consistent with the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Action Plan released in September 2024. China and Africa will work together to boost trade development and deepen cooperation in investment as well as industrial and supply chains.
Meanwhile, Malawi boasts a superior business environment, abundant cultural and tourism resources and robust development momentum. The ambassador looks forward to closer communication and coordination with Linyi to deepen practical cooperation and achieve complementary advantages and shared prosperity.
Wang Xiaohui, Deputy General Manager of Lingong Group, a key overseas-oriented enterprise based in Linyi, said that guided by supportive policies for enterprises going global, Lingong Group has implemented an internationalization strategy featuring "comprehensive advancement with targeted breakthroughs". On the one hand, the Group advances full-link localized operations covering overseas sales, after-sales service and warehousing. On the other hand, it focuses on major core markets to achieve concentrated breakthroughs and expand its global layout point by point. Moving forward, the Group will deepen project cooperation with various African countries in key sectors and continuously improve the competitiveness of its products and services.
Following the opening ceremony, the special exchange session titled "Linyi Products Go Global · Counsellors Lead the Way" — a dialogue between diplomatic counsellors from African embassies in China and Linyi’s export-oriented enterprises — was successfully held. More than 50 key foreign trade exporters from Linyi held face-to-face talks with diplomats from multiple African countries, discussing cooperation on topics including enterprises’ overseas expansion, overseas warehouse construction, and domestic and overseas exhibitions. Enterprise representatives all remarked that this session created a zero-distance communication platform with African partners, facilitating their future economic and trade activities with Africa.
During the event, Linyi also arranged for diplomatic envoys from multiple African countries to visit Linyi Mall, where they gained an on-site understanding of its full-category supply chain. The envoys also conducted field inspections and exchanges at Lingong Group, engaging in in-depth consultations focusing on African infrastructure construction and engineering machinery. These arrangements will further boost Linyi’s foreign trade cooperation and opening-up progress.
This event represents a down-to-earth initiative by China Economic and Trade Magazine to help Linyi fully align with China-Africa cooperation and unblock economic and trade channels linking Linyi with Africa. It also serves as a vivid practice where Linyi government departments, local enterprises going global and African diplomatic envoys to China join hands to explore markets and pursue win-win results.
Editor：韩蒙蒙