China's trade with African countries hit a record high in the first five months of this year, reaching 963.21 billion yuan (about 134 billion U.S. dollars), up 12.4 percent year on year, according to the latest data from China's General Administration of Customs (GAC).
Specifically, China's exports to Africa rose 20.2 percent from a year ago to 599.57 billion yuan in the first five months, while its imports from Africa gained 1.6 percent to 363.64 billion yuan.
Since the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2000, China has expanded its economic and trade cooperation with Africa and has been the largest trading partner to Africa for 16 consecutive years.
The trade volume between China and Africa exceeded two trillion yuan (278 billion U.S. dollars) annually in 2024, growing for the fourth consecutive year.
"The China-Africa trade index formulated by the Chinese customs authorities has rapidly risen from the base value of 100 points since the establishment of FOCAC in 2000. It exceeded 1,000 points in 2023 and reached 1,056.53 points in 2024, fully demonstrating the strong vitality of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation," said Lyu Daliang, the GAC's spokesman, in an interview with China Central Television on the occasion of the Ministerial Meeting of Coordinators on the Implementation of the Follow-up Actions of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province.
In recent years, the trade in agricultural products between China and Africa has been continuously expanding, with imports and exports exceeding 70 billion yuan for the first time in 2024.
In the first five months of this year, China imported agricultural products worth 15.83 billion yuan from Africa, while its exports of pesticide formulations and agricultural machinery to Africa increased by 12 percent and 41 percent respectively.
Since 2022, Africa has always been the largest market for China's exports of goods for overseas contracted projects. In the Jan-May period of 2025, China's exports to Africa in this way reached 12.59 billion yuan, an increase of 46.5 percent year on year.
In the first five months of this year, China's exports of ships and marine engineering equipment, construction machinery, and electric motors and generators to Africa increased by 41.6 percent, 58.5 percent and 51.1 percent year on year respectively.
China-Africa trade hits new high in first five months of 2025
China-Africa trade hits new high in first five months of 2025
The Tengchong Scientists Forum 2025 opened in southwest China's Yunnan Province on Saturday, bringing together hundreds of scientists, university leaders, and entrepreneurs from around the world to discuss frontier research and the integration of science with industry.
More than 120 academicians and over 70 presidents of well-known universities from home and abroad attended the forum, themed "Science and AI Changing the World," discussing the significant value of artificial intelligence (AI) in empowering industries across the board.
On the opening day of the three-day event, the "Tengchong Science Award" was presented to Chinese scientist Pan Jianwei from the University of Science and Technology of China in recognition of his pioneering achievements in quantum communication and quantum computing.
And for the first time, the forum also honored nine outstanding young scientists under the age of 40.
Xu Zhanbo, professor from Xi'an Jiaotong University in northwest China's Shaanxi Province is one of them. His team has developed the world's first hydrogen-powered smart zero-carbon energy system. His breakthrough supports China's goals of advancing green technological innovation.
"I believe that as information technology continues to integrate with the traditional energy sector, helping overcome some of the technological bottlenecks of sensing, calculation, and control in the traditional energy sector, building more zero-carbon parks is entirely feasible," said Xu.
A technology outlook report was released at the event, forecasting 10 major megatrends expected to transform the world by 2049. The report predicts that artificial intelligence will reach human-like capabilities across multiple domains, which was a hot topic at the forum.
"AI will be used quite a lot in the area of advanced materials, in chemistry, in physics. However, we need new technologies. Now, we're back at the drawing desk, trying to create new approaches of the use of AI for materials science," said Konstantin Novoselov, Nobel Laureate in Physics.
Yunnan Province is China's gateway to South and Southeast Asia. The forum also aims to foster international collaboration, particularly with neighboring countries.
"Talent developments, technology transfer, joint research and development, I think these are so founded on the grounds of what we are going to do with whatever effort we have in the country, but also collaboration with ASEAN, Lancang-Mekong countries, particularly in China," said Hul Seingheng, under-secretary of state at the Cambodian Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation.
Global scientists gather in Tengchong to advance innovation-driven development
