Infrastructure construction and economic and trade cooperation have always been China's deep cultivation areas in overseas markets. With the global implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, China's cooperation with West Asian and African countries has reached a climax. On April 16, 2023, the Forum on New Opportunities for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China, Africa and West Asia was held at the Canton Fair Complex. Wang Dong, deputy director of the Department of West Asia and Africa of the Ministry of Commerce, said that in recent years, the economic and trade cooperation between China and West Asia and Africa has continuously achieved new breakthroughs and has entered the fast track of development.

China has become the largest trading partner in West Asia and Africa. In 2022, China's trade volume with West Asian and African countries will reach US$689.6 billion, a new record high, with a year-on-year increase of 23.8%. Among them, China's exports amounted to US$313.3 billion, an increase of 15.9%. China's imports were US$376.3 billion, an increase of 31.3%.

The cooperation between China and West Asia and Africa has achieved particularly fruitful results in the fields of infrastructure and regional connectivity. In 2022, the contract value of new contracted projects signed by Chinese companies in this region will exceed 100 billion US dollars, accounting for about 40% of the global engineering market share of Chinese companies. At the same time, cooperation between China and West Asian and African countries in the fields of digital economy, green development, finance, aerospace and other fields is booming, and two-way investment is becoming increasingly active. China has become the fourth largest source of investment in Africa, and a large number of key investment projects from Arab countries have also been implemented in China.

According to Zhang Jinsong, director of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Commerce, in 2022, Guangdong's imports and exports to Africa and West Asia will be 600.19 billion yuan, accounting for 24.8% of the country's total. As of February this year, African and West Asian countries have invested in 8,653 projects in Guangdong, with an actual foreign investment of US$4.7 billion. Guangdong has established 593 non-financial enterprises (institutions) in Africa and West Asia, with an actual investment of US$1.34 billion.

In recent years, Guangdong Province has supported leading enterprises to accelerate their development in Africa. Overseas economic and trade cooperation zones such as Nigeria Guangdong Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone and Sigma Industrial Park (Nigeria) are developing well. A group of Guangdong enterprises have been deeply involved in Africa and continue to develop products that meet local needs. , created a large number of tax revenue and employment opportunities for the local area, and achieved good economic and social benefits.

As China's largest import and export trade promotion platform, the Canton Fair actively promotes enterprises from West Asian and African countries to share China's development opportunities. It is reported that among the more than 180 global partners of the Canton Fair, 25 institutions are from Africa and West Asia, accounting for 15% of the total. Each Canton Fair has more than 30,000 buyers from African and West Asian countries participating offline, accounting for 16% of the total number, and more than 70,000 buyers from African and West Asian countries participating online, accounting for 17% of the total number. Buyers from African and West Asian countries who have pre-registered for the 133rd Canton Fair accounted for 19% of the total number of buyers.Editor/Ma Xue