Changsha: The China-Africa Economic Partnership for Shared Development will grant duty-free access to the Chinese market for all African countries. This announcement comes as African foreign ministers convened in central China to evaluate the progress of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) outcomes from last September.
According to Ethiopian News Agency, the initiative is designed to enhance market access for African exports, particularly those from least developed countries, and to invigorate China-Africa economic relations. Previously, zero-tariff treatment was extended to only 33 African countries. Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a letter presented at the meeting in Changsha, Hunan province, expressed China’s willingness to extend zero-tariff measures to 53 African countries with diplomatic ties to China for all items.
An additional 20 African countries, mostly middle-income nations, are poised to access the world’s largest consumer market duty-free as Beijing plans to eliminate tariffs for all products from every African nation. During the meeting, representatives from China and African nations criticized the United States for disrupting the global economic and trade order, which they claimed harmed the collective interests of the international community.
Beijing intends to implement measures concerning market access, inspection and quarantine, and customs clearance to bolster trade. Concurrently, China will train personnel in Africa to help execute these measures and promote quality products from these nations, as Xi stated in his letter to the ministerial meeting of coordinators on the FOCAC outcomes.
Hannah Ryder, chief executive of Beijing-based consultancy Development Reimagined, who has been monitoring China-Africa trade, commented that China’s move signifies a substantial shift in Africa-China trade relations. She noted that Africa’s trade with China encountered bottlenecks due to limited tariff preferences for least developed countries, which caused distortions in Africa’s largest trade partnership.
Ryder emphasized that tariff elimination alone is insufficient, as exporters still face hurdles such as language barriers, logistics, and e-commerce costs. On Wednesday, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with African ministers to review FOCAC outcomes. A declaration following the meeting stated that the tariff offer would become available once African leaders negotiated and signed the agreement of the China-Africa Economic Partnership for Shared Development with China to welcome quality African products into the Chinese market.
In his keynote speech at the FOCAC meeting, Wang remarked that China would continue to open up its market to Africa and provide more opportunities for African development. China is currently Africa’s largest trading partner, with total trade reaching nearly 300 billion USD in 2024, while Africa’s trade with the US was valued at just 71.6 billion USD in the same period.
Ryder highlighted the importance of Africa’s free-trade area, asserting that to diversify trade beyond raw materials, middle-income countries with an existing production base need easier access to the market.