The eighth ministerial meeting of the Forum on China Africa cooperation will be held in Senegal at the end of November. What new progress has been made in China Africa economic and trade cooperation? How will the new forum contribute to the high-quality development of China Africa cooperation? At the press conference held by the state information office on the 17th, focusing on the economic and trade work of the eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China Africa cooperation, Vice Minister of Commerce Qian Keming responded to relevant questions. High quality implementation of the "eight actions" has made new progress in China Africa economic and trade cooperation Qian Keming said that since the closure of the Beijing summit of the China Africa Cooperation Forum, the Ministry of Commerce and relevant departments have vigorously promoted the implementation of the eight actions and guided the economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa to overcome the impact of the epidemic. Data show that from January to September this year, various indicators of China Africa economic and trade cooperation showed an overall upward trend. Among them, the trade volume between China and Africa reached US $185.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 38.2%, reaching the highest level in the same period in history. China's industry wide direct investment in Africa was US $2.59 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9.9%, which has exceeded the same period level in 2019 before the epidemic. In the face of the challenge of the epidemic situation, the special China Africa United anti epidemic summit was successfully held, and the focus of cooperation was timely adjusted to health, resumption of work and production and improvement of people's livelihood; In view of the difficulties in personnel exchanges caused by the epidemic, we have promoted personnel training with the help of the network, and set up 14 Luban workshops in Africa to carry out vocational training on the spot; Actively expand emerging areas of cooperation, and significantly increase the sales of African agricultural products in China through China's e-commerce platform "Behind the report card is the unremitting efforts of China and Africa to overcome difficulties." Qian Keming said that the "eight actions" have strongly supported the economic and social development and the improvement of people's livelihood of African countries. The convening of the eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China Africa cooperation will further condense China Africa strategic consensus and point out the direction for the sustainable and high-quality development of China Africa cooperation. Focus on the future and promote the high-quality development of China Africa cooperation Under the impact of the epidemic, both China and Africa are facing the dual pressure of epidemic prevention and stabilizing the economy. Qian Keming said that the new forum will continue to play a strategic leading role, pool consensus, explore and innovate, and promote the high-quality development of China Africa cooperation. Qian Keming said that this session will focus on Africa's economic and social development and new opportunities for China Africa Cooperation under the epidemic situation, not only covering the traditional areas of China Africa cooperation, but also focusing on supporting Africa's recovery and development, focusing on health and anti epidemic, livelihood poverty reduction, trade and investment, and expanding China Africa cooperation in emerging fields such as digital economy, green and low-carbon, vocational education and so on. In addition, the meeting will encourage and support more diversified entities such as departments, localities, enterprises and financial institutions, as well as market-oriented funds such as commercial credit and enterprise investment to participate in China Africa cooperation, so as to continuously expand China's effective force for Africa cooperation. Qian Keming introduced that during the meeting, China and Africa will also jointly issue the vision for China Africa cooperation 2035, make medium and long-term plans for China Africa cooperation, lay the main framework for bilateral cooperation in the future stage, and further enhance the foresight, systematicness and continuity of the new initiatives of the forum. China has always taken promoting the balanced development of China Africa trade as its goal In response to some countries' concerns about "China Africa trade imbalance", Qian Keming responded that from a long-term perspective, China Africa trade is generally balanced. He said that since 2000, China has imported about US $1.2 trillion from Africa and exported about US $1.27 trillion to Africa. In recent years, the annual trade volume between China and Africa is about 200 billion US dollars, China's import is about 100 billion US dollars, and China's export is about 100 billion US dollars. In the long run, it is balanced, as a whole. Qian Keming said that in Africa, countries have different resource endowments, levels of economic development, industrial structure and foreign trade policies, which determines that at a certain stage, some countries will have a trade surplus with China and some countries will have a deficit. China has always regarded promoting the balanced development of China Africa trade as its goal, and has never deliberately pursued a trade surplus with Africa. In recent years, China has been trying to broaden the channels for African products to enter the Chinese market and improve the level of trade facilitation of African countries to China. "In recent years, China's imports of agricultural products from Africa have increased very rapidly, with an average growth rate of 11.4% in five years. At present, China has become the second largest destination for African agricultural products exports. Next, China will continue to promote African countries and Chinese enterprises to make good use of various measures, further expand the scale of imports from Africa and promote the high-quality development of China Africa trade," Qian Keming said. (outlook new era)