Hassan Mohammed, the Trade Commissioner of the Trade Office of the Consulate General of Nigeria in Shanghai, China, has urged Chinese investors to invest in Nigeria’s health industry, so as to promote the economic and trade exchanges between the two countries.
Mohammed made this call at the Hunan Meets Africa” 2022 China (Hunan) Health Industry Promotion and Matchmaking Conference which was held in Changsha City, Hunan Province.
At the conference, Mohammed introduced Nigeria’s medical industry, he pointed out that Nigeria’s health industry is gaining momentum, and encouraged Chinese investors to invest.
More than 130 African enterprises from over 20 African countries and 150 Chinese enterprises joined the conference and completed over 150 rounds of online negotiations.
Three firms; Arshine Group, Sinocare Inc., Hunan Beyond Medical Technology, and Techray Medical Technology made presentations and signed contracts with key African countries to include Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, among others.
The total contract value exceeded $45 million, of which Arshine Group signed an amount of 30 million US dollars. In addition, enterprises from the two sides had in-depth discussions on the project demand, market situation, product supply, and other cooperation intent.
Speaking at the conference, Zheng Ping, director of Changsha Municipal Bureau of Commerce, disclosed that in the first ten months this year, Changsha’s imports and exports with African countries reached 20.93 billion yuan, maintaining a rapid growth rate of 93 percent.
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Changsha has become a hub of China-Africa, she said, expressing optimism that the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE) to be held next year can further drive the cooperation between Africa and Changsha to a new high.
Dai Zhongya, Inspector of Hunan Xiangjiang New Area, said that Hunan regards Africa as an important development partner, and strives to build a whole industrial chain with health and biomedical sectors as the core. He encouraged Hunan-based enterprises to further strengthen cooperation with their counterparts in African countries.
Chen Dayang, inspector of the Department of Commerce of Hunan Province said it was important to combine Hunan’s advantages with Africa’s endowment, so as to better enhance the cooperation in the health industry between China and Africa, establish long-term communication and exchange mechanisms, and implement more projects.
According to Siyabonga Cwele, Ambassador of South Africa said the pharmaceutical and medical device sectors in South Africa have maintained good and strong momentum over the past decade, and he hoped that countries can seize the opportunity and translate the cooperation potential into practical results.
Also, Assem Hanafi, Ambassador of Egypt to China said Egypt is one of the most industrialized countries in the Middle East and Africa.
He informed that Egypt and China signed an agreement in 2021 for the first joint production of the Sinovac vaccine locally in Africa, in addition to a cooperation agreement in January 2022 to establish a cold storage facility for vaccine storage and preservation, which was successfully inaugurated last September and serves as a regional hub for vaccines in the African continent.
The conference is one of the gap year events of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE), it is organized by Changsha Municipal Bureau of Commerce and co-organized by Arshine Group, Hunan Going Global Investment & Economic Service Platform Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan Center (Changsha), and Overseas Home China-Africa Cooperation Service Center.
More than 300 representatives from Chinese and African business associations, enterprises, and Chinese and foreign media attended the conference online or in person, and the conference received more than 10,000 views.
The conference benefited from the spillover effect of two national-level China-Africa economic and trade platforms: China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE) and the Pilot Zone for China-Africa Economic and Trade In-depth Cooperation.
It facilitated online meetings, negotiations, and cooperation between African embassies and consulates in China, medical associations, medical product buyers, and major Chinese enterprises in the health industry, thus upgrading the cooperation between Hunan and Africa in the health industry.
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