Officials and business leaders shake hands after signing cooperation deals during the 4th Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs in Beijing on Thursday. Eight deals worth as much as $341 million were signed in fields such as finance, aviation, medicine and agriculture. Liu Zhen / China News Service

Chinese investment in Africa will surge in the second half of this year while the processing industry will become a magnet for Chinese investments in the long term, experts said.

The second half of this year will see a 10 percent investment increase over the same period last year, Cheng Zhigang, secretary-general of the China-Africa Industrial Cooperation and Development Forum, told China Daily on Thursday.

"As China strengthens its ties with Africa and China-Africa trade keeps expanding, Chinese enterprises will increase their investment in Africa in the near future," said Wang Cheng'an, executive vice-president and secretary-general of the Professional Committee of Competition Policy and Law under the China Society for World Trade Organization Studies.

Chinese investment in Africa boosted local economic development and increased local tax revenue and employment. Moreover, China's direct investment in Africa will enlarge its exports of machinery and technology to Africa, Wang said.

The forum will set the framework for the next three years and broaden the scope of China-Africa cooperation, said Wei Jianguo, secretary-general of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, a government think tank.

President Hu Jintao said on Thursday that China will offer $20 billion in loans to African countries over the next three years, which will greatly encourage Chinese investment in Africa, according to Cheng.

In 2011, China's non-financial direct investment in Africa increased 58.9 percent year-on-year to $1.7 billion, according to the Ministry of Commerce. By the end of 2011, Chinese investment stock in Africa reached $14.7 billion, up 60 percent compared with 2009.

A group of Chinese State-owned enterprises toured Africa in October for investment projects.

A leading Chinese State-owned coal company plans to invest $7 billion over the next three to five years to explore coal resources in South Africa and improve the local transportation system. Another State-owned Chinese company plans to invest $500 million in the Democratic Republic of Congo in November to explore the country's iron ore resources, Cheng said, declining to disclose the names of the Chinese companies.

Cheng said that Chinese investments in Africa mainly centered on the fields of energy, minerals as well as infrastructure, while Wang Cheng'an said that Chinese investors in Africa are engaged in various sectors.

"Chinese investment in Africa is very broad. Many companies are now enthusiastic about African tourism while others are interested in local agriculture and processing," Wang said.

"And the processing industry of Africa will attract more Chinese investment in the long run because the continent is now embarking on a phase of industrialization. In addition, the African people have called for Chinese companies to process raw materials in Africa and keep the added value within the continent," Wang said.

"Cote d'Ivoire serves as a gateway for Chinese investors to enter West Africa with a market of 300 million consumers," Cote d'Ivoire President Alassane Ouattara said at a meeting with Chinese business representatives on Thursday.

"We hope more Chinese companies invest in private sectors to stimulate economic growth and create more job positions for our people, especially young people, and increase our added value," he said.

Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa's second-largest economy, is open to Chinese investment in industry, agriculture, energy, housing and infrastructure, Ouattara said.

"Chinese investment is the cornerstone for our country to maintain double-digit GDP growth from 2014 to 2015. We especially invite Chinese investment in our cocoa processing industry because our cocoa production accounted for 40 percent of the world's total production," he said.

lijiabao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/20/2012 page12)