![]() |
Afreximbank Executive Vice President
Dr. George Elombi (left) in handshake with Mayor Qu Futian of Suzhou during
Afreximbank delegation visit to Suzhou Industrial Park in China.
|
The establishment
of twinning arrangements between leading industrial parks in China and African
cities with industrial aspirations would help to accelerate the
industrialization of the continent, the African Export-Import Bank
(Afreximbank) has proposed.
Dr. Elombi
said that, as part of its mandate to promote Africa-South trade, Afreximbank
would assist in setting up such twinning arrangements, which, he noted, would
also strengthen relations between Africa and China.
Mayor Qu had
said that in 2015, products and services from the Suzhou Industrial Park
accounted for $3.2 billion of China’s trade with Africa. In the same year, the
industrial park accounted for eight per cent of China’s export trade value and
7.7 per cent of the import value.
Earlier,
during a meeting with some companies operating in the industrial park, Dr.
Elombi had told them that Afreximbank would work with those interested in
setting up operations in Africa to identify suitable locations, find local
partners and navigate local administrative landscapes.
Afreximbank
would also be able to add confirmations to enable the companies secure the
financing they needed in order to continue or to scale up their operations in
Africa, he added.
Don Gao,
Chief Executive Officer of Positec Group, said that his company, the sixth
largest power tools company in the world, was interested in relocating some of
its manufacturing to Africa and would be interested in working with Afreximbank
to achieve that goal.
Wenwen Wu,
President of Higer Bus Company, said that Africa was his company’s largest
market, with annual export sales totaling $60 million.
Mr. Wenwen
said that Higer Bus Company needed finance support to address foreign exchange
issues relating to some of its business in Africa.
Also
participating in the meeting were the Hengtong Group, a light cable and related
products, represented by Zhu Haiming, the Vice President, and the Jiangsu
Guotai International Group, which produces steel, chemicals and textiles, and
which was represented by the President, Chen Xiaodong.
The visit to
the Suzhou Industrial Park was organized by the Export-Import Bank of China
(China Eximbank) as part of consultations between Afreximbank and China
Eximbank aimed at strengthening relations between the two institutions. It
began in Beijing on Wednesday with a meeting between the Afreximbank President,
Dr. Benedict Oramah, and President Liu Liange of China Eximbank.
Manal Mounir Hendy
Associate
External Communications
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please restrict your comment to the subject matter.