African nations aim for industrialization, agricultural transformation, trade growth in future development: AU Commission chief

African nations aim to push forward industrialization, agricultural transformation and trade growth in the future development, said African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf in an interview with the China Media Group released on Friday.

These three areas are very important focus for the AU to achieve the Agenda 2063, Africa's development blueprint to achieve inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development over a 50-year period, said Youssouf.

"We are working on the transformation of the continent through industrialization. And industrialization has prerequisites. One of them is energy. So we are developing on the continent energy pools everywhere in the regions relying on renewables, developing our own resources of energies. So this is also where we are making progress," he said.

As 80 percent of African people live in rural areas, transforming agriculture is very important, Youssouf said.

"[We'll have] reliance on smart grains, smart irrigation and developing the capacity of the African continent to increase the production. So transformation is very important. If you have a value chain which helps the Africans to get the best value of their product instead of exporting raw materials, raw crops without transformation, tea, coffee, cacao, etc. African countries are really developing their capacity to transform these agricultural projects," he said.

Noting that trade between nations brings wealth, as well as peace and stability, Youssouf said the AU is working to intensify the trade relations within the continent.

"We are working on how best we can increase the intra-Africa trade figures. We're doing it through mechanism and strategies that we have put into place. One of the mechanisms is the African Continental Free Trade Area. This treaty has been signed and implemented since 2017 and then it has mechanisms inside it, [including] the certificate of origin, the compensation and payment mechanism, etc," he said.

African nations aim for industrialization, agricultural transformation, trade growth in future development: AU Commission chief

Over 80,000 foreign travelers have entered south China's Hainan Province visa-free since the launch of the island-wide special customs operations in the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP), an increase of 64 percent year on year, according to official data.

Since the special customs operations began on Dec 18, 2025, ports across the province have maintained stable operation, with the number of foreign travelers continuously growing.

Data from the Haikou General Station of Immigration Inspection showed that from Dec 18, 2025 to Friday, ports across Hainan inspected 180,000 foreign nationals entering and exiting the country, an increase of 46.5 percent year on year, accounting for 58.6 percent of the total number of inbound and outbound travelers during the same period.

A total of 80,000 foreign travelers entered under visa-free policies, accounting for 94.2 percent of the total number of foreign tourists entering the country during the period.

Most of the foreign travelers came to China for tourism, who were mainly from Russia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Kazakhstan, and Singapore.

Hainan sees sharp increase in foreign travelers entering visa-free