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00:00We turn to China, which itself is hosting a raft of African heavyweights itself this week.
00:06A China-Africa summit kicked off on Wednesday. China is the continent's top bilateral lender
00:14and many of the heads of state in Beijing are hoping to nurture a relationship upon which
00:19many have relied for the creation of huge infrastructure projects in Africa over the years,
00:24even if the figures have been lower as China feels its own domestic financial
00:29pressures. Our Yena Li was at the opening of the summit.
00:36Beijing has been touting the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation as the biggest international event
00:42it has hosted in several years. Indeed, two dozen African heads of state are here and have had
00:48face-to-face meetings with President Xi Jinping and though everybody has their own bilateral
00:53relationship with China, there are some continent-wide concerns, mainly linked to Africa's
00:58$64 billion trade deficit with the Asian giant. Delegations from the continent are also here to
01:04attract more Chinese investment. China, meanwhile, is looking to import minerals, export green
01:11technology whilst promoting its vision for the world. You can expect to hear the phrase
01:16South-South cooperation throughout the week as Beijing tries to emphasize that trade with them
01:22is not quite like trading with other big players. And like at the last summit, we can see that big
01:29infrastructure projects are no longer being talked about loudly and proudly. Now, Beijing prefers to
01:35promote what it calls small and beautiful projects. That said, on the sidelines of the Forum, China,
01:41Tanzania and Zambia have already signed an initial deal to refurbish an old railway line connecting
01:48the two East African nations. Almost every country from the continent has sent a delegation
01:54here to China except Eswatini that didn't get an invite due to its diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
02:03Now, ahead of the summit, I sat down with a Chinese importer of Kenyan flowers to ask her
02:10about the impact of new fast-track customs policies on her business.
02:17Huang Zhenan first visited a Kenyan flower farm in 2018. Impressed by the quality of the blooms,
02:23she later started an import business back home.
02:28This yellow rose is my favorite. It's also quite popular.
02:33On average, she sells 100,000 stems a month, mostly wholesale, to major cities around China.
02:40They're larger than my fist and they have a strong scent.
02:43Her business got a recent boost from a Beijing policy change that slashed red
02:47tape for African agricultural and horticultural imports.
02:51We have access to the green lanes for customs clearance.
02:55It only takes 17 hours for the flowers to get here from Kenya.
02:59The green lane policy was launched in 2021 here in Hunan province.
03:04Sixteen new African products have since entered the Chinese market
03:08compared to 11 products over the previous two decades.
03:12But the measures only go so far.
03:14The trade deficit between Africa and its largest trading partner keeps growing.
03:19Some economists say the imbalance can only be tackled
03:23if the continent diversifies its economies to produce more value-added goods.
03:28This is something that is a pan-African collective position
03:32that we want to move away from the trade of raw commodities.
03:36So to give a very simple example, instead of just exporting cocoa beans,
03:41we also want to be exporting chocolate.
03:43Another battle for African exporters is for
03:46Beijing to recognize products unique to their place of origin.
03:49Similar to how Italian prosciutto is protected by geographical indications,
03:55we have teas such as South Africa's rooibos tea,
03:58which can only be produced in South Africa presently, and these are not protected.
04:04Though trade between the two reached a record US$282 billion in 2023,
04:10Africa's trade deficit with China increased almost 37% in one year.