European companies attending the 26th China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT) in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province, are seeking deeper partnerships with Chinese businesses across sectors including healthcare, manufacturing and supply-chain services. More than 30 European and Chinese business representatives gathered at the China-Europe Business Council's fifth-anniversary symposium during the four-day fair to discuss the next stage of economic cooperation.
Among them was French tire maker Michelin, which has seen its China business evolve alongside the country's fast-growing auto industry. Chinese producers now drive the bulk of its operations, according to Wu Junyi, the company's vice president in China.
"BYD, Li Auto, Xpeng, or Xiaomi… 70 percent of our business is working with these Chinese producers. Many of the companies who join this fair today, they are all very successful in the China market. There is one common key success factor, which is the deep integration with the local ecosystems," he said.
Finland, the guest country of honor at this year's CIFIT, has sent a delegation of over 100 representatives to the fair. The country is also looking at opportunities for cooperation in healthcare and data services.
Elina Drakvik, a senior lead at Sitra, an independent Finnish public foundation, said dialogue among countries and stakeholders is essential to advancing global cooperation on health data.
"Collaboration is needed. The project that I'm leading is about the European health data space. But, of course, there are also discussions on how we can enable global collaboration, so there are ideas about the global health data space. And in that regard, it's important that we discuss with many different countries and many different actors and stakeholders," she said.
Beyond the medical field, some European firms at the fair said their priorities in China are changing.
Jaszfi Vince, CEO of Greenwood-Power, an Austrian-Hungarian manufacturer of smart grid sensors, said the focus has shifted from building capacity to becoming part of the country's business networks.
"The Chinese market has developed from a strong industrial and strong building capacity also to building up partnerships, and also going in the direction of economic ecosystems and building up more complex relationships and more complex supply chains," he said. The 2026 CIFIT attracted more than 1,200 delegations from 129 countries and regions, and 30 international organizations, including government agencies, businesses, and other entities.
European firms seek deeper China partnerships at Xiamen investment fair
The Port of Durban, a critical trade artery for South Africa and the region, has gained new impetus for development, thanks to BRICS-backed financing. The port handles more cargo than any other port in Africa. But years of aging infrastructure and logistics bottlenecks have weighed on its performance. Now, hundreds of millions of dollars in government and international financing are helping transform the port.
The New Development Bank has been among the international financiers supporting modernization efforts by the port operator first, granting a 260-million-dollar loan back in 2018.
"We are fixing the actual infrastructure that we have. Also, the investment in the jib cranes that are actually going to come is part of our activities to fix the actual dock. The second pillar of that -- it is to transform the business. So part of transforming the business is what we are doing to procure the central lift that is actually going to repair our own vessels," said Mpumi Dweba-Kwetana, manager of the port.
The port is now preparing for increased container traffic as the African Continental Free Trade Area takes shape.
"We are positioning ourselves to be able to actually ensure that we are able to bring in bigger vessels, but also importantly, improvement in efficiencies in the work that we do, pricing our docks adequately," said the manager.
But a modern port also needs a functioning feeder network.
In 2024, the New Development Bank announced a further 300-million-dollar facility to support revival of Transnet's freight rail system.
The network was badly affected by vandalism, theft and operational failures, restricting the flow of goods to the ports and weighing on economic growth.
"If you look at our lack of growth, it has been on the supply side. First it was electricity which took us for more than a decade to get it right, almost 16 years. Now we've got a similar problem in logistics, which we need to sort, because if the logistics front is not working, where we do not even benefit from commodity booms," said South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.
Transnet's Reinvent for Growth Strategy aims to rebuild infrastructure and improve efficiency. The goal is to get goods moving faster, from mines and farms to the port, and into international markets.
"If we don't fix it, we will have a system that is again continuing to deteriorate. And we can't have that because when you have a deteriorating system, as I've said, you have derailments, you have all sorts of incidents on the line. The trains are not moving fast enough. If that happens, it means the pace at which goods are moving to and from the port is slower," said Michelle Phillips, CEO of Transnet.
Rebuilding South Africa's port and rail network is not just about resilient infrastructure. It is about making the country more competitive and cementing Durban's position as a gateway between Africa and the wider BRICS trading cooperation.
BRICS-backed financing helps transform South Africa's Port of Durban
