China has remained Africa's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years, with bilateral trade reaching a record 295.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2024, as announced by an official from the Ministry of Commerce on Wednesday.
Speaking at a press conference in Beijing, Assistant Minister of Commerce Tang Wenhong highlighted that the scale of China-Africa economic cooperation has expanded steadily, showing strong growth momentum.
"In 2024, the trade volume between China and Africa amounted to 295.6 billion U.S. dollars, rising 4.8 percent year on year and setting a new record for the fourth consecutive year. China has remained Africa's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years. Specifically, China's imports from Africa reached 116.8 billion U.S. dollars, up 6.9 percent, while its exports to Africa stood at 178.8 billion U.S. dollars, increasing 3.5 percent. China's vast market has provided extensive opportunities for African goods," he said.
Tang noted that Chinese enterprises in recent years have significantly enhanced their development and investment activities in various economic and trade zones across Africa. That has facilitated industrial chain collaboration between China and Africa, while also making substantial contributions to local tax revenues, employment opportunities, and export earnings.
"For digital economy, Chinese enterprises have built several large-scale data centers for Africa, providing cloud computing services. 5G technology has also been widely applied in African mining and urban management. In terms of green development, the cumulative installed capacity of photovoltaic power stations built through China-Africa cooperation has exceeded 1.5 gigawatts, which can meet the electricity demands of over a million African households. In financial cooperation, Egypt and the African Export-Import Bank successfully issued Chinese yuan-denominated panda bonds in China in 2023 and 2025 respectively," he continued.
China remains Africa's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years: official
China remains Africa's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years: official
China remains Africa's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years: official
China's achievements and cooperation initiatives in the technology and innovation sector have been highlighted at the ongoing Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum) in Beijing.
The five-day forum opened on Wednesday and has attracted over 1,000 guests from more than 100 countries and regions to exchange views under the theme of "Full Integration Between Technological and Industrial Innovation".
This year's event showcased over 500 cutting-edge achievements across fields such as embodied intelligence, smart manufacturing and biomedicine, fully demonstrating China's latest scientific and technological advancements and innovations.
"[I'm] really impressed about the level of modernization and dynamism of the technology industry and AI here in China. We need support, commitment and leadership. China is providing all of them and in particular in the emerging technologies, including AI," said Sergio Mujica, secretary-general of the International Organization for Standardization.
At the forum's annual meeting, 60 parallel sessions are scheduled -- 21 of them debuting this year -- furthering global technology exchange.
"China is opening its full technical infrastructure to the world, and I think specifically for the Global South. This acts as a major advancement and it shows the level of responsibility and openness that China is showing towards the advancement of science and the collaboration," said Said Taha, a consultant for the Egyptian Ministry of Education.
At the 2026 Zhongguancun International Technology Trade Fair, part of the ZGC Forum, over 500 high-quality projects and scientific and technological achievements were on display, establishing a multi-level, wide-ranging platform for technology transaction and cooperation.
The attendees hailed the fair for bringing together global companies and facilitating exchanges.
"The innovation here in China is so attractive that a lot of global companies are coming to China in order to do the business deals in order to bring the products to the global markets," said Joseph Scheeren, member of the French National Academy of Pharmacy.
"The ZGC Forum provides an open platform for dialogue, and we hope to participate in more international cooperation in the future to promote Chinese technology and products to the world," said Yang Zhilin, CEO of Moonshot AI, a Chinese tech company.
China's technological contributions highlighted at Zhongguancun Forum
