Deputy: Hunan to deepen cooperation, exchange with African countries

Hunan will deepen its cooperation with African countries through the China-Africa Economic and Trade Exposition and other channels, Xu Dazhe, Governor of Hunan province and an NPC deputy, said at an open NPC delegation meeting of the province in Beijing on Thursday.

This June, the first China-Africa Economic and Trade Exposition will be held on an exhibition area covering around 50,000 square meters in Changsha, capital of Hunan province, which will continue to hold the event every two years in future.

"Hunan will strive to make the first exposition a first-class affair with offline and online exhibitions, so as to share China's reform experiences with African friends for mutual benefit, and through its success ensure building a close-knit China-Africa community with a shared future that can be an example for building a community with a shared future for mankind," Xu said.

At the meeting, the governor also described other moves based on the exposition to achieve further progress in China-Africa cooperation.

He said Hunan, native province of the "Father of Hybrid Rice" Yuan Longping, based on its large agricultural crop production, is now constructing a national biological and seed technology center. In view of this, he suggested the Hunan-Africa cooperation in seed technologies as a way to address grain shortages in populous African countries.

With large enterprises like mechanical company Sany Group, Hunan could make use of its strengths in engineering and infrastructure construction to contribute its share to African development, Xu added.

He called for more high-level exchange visits, and greater economic interaction and trade, citing the example of Gaoqiao Town, where, "now, people already can see many African goods in the market."

He also called for enhancing convenience in air traffic and visa arrangements to increase people-to-people exchange and cultural communication to the benefit of both sides.