China promises to increase imports from Africa

Due to the rapid development of the Chinese economy in recent years, China has emerged as a potential successor to the West with regard to being the premier trading partner of many countries on the African continent. Coupled with this is an undertaking by the Chinese to not only import raw materials from Africa, but to also develop infrastructure in the countries that they trade with through the provision of low interest loans, aid and direct investment. However due to decades of underdevelopment most of Africa does not possess the industries to capitalize on the opportunities offered by China in terms of export markets. This has led to a situation where African countries mostly export raw materials to China, and in turn import manufactured goods from China. Due to the size and strength of the Chinese economy, and the low cost of Chinese products, and the fact that most African countries import more goods from China than they export, a concern raised is that this trade undermines local industries and economic development. Hu Jintao, president of China, issued a statement on 27 February 2007 in Pretoria in which he promised to increase imports from Africa to decrease a rapidly growing trade deficit with the continent.