Africa becoming hot destination for investment(2)

　　Different positions

The two regions' different positions on the global industrial ladder are a fundamental force boosting bilateral trade as well as China's investment in Africa, the official added.

Africa is an important market for China in terms of project contracting and overseas investment and is a crucial energy supplier, while Africa needs China's expertise, technology, capital and talent for development.

President Xi Jinping chose the African continent to be among the destinations on his first foreign trip last March after assuming China's presidency. While visiting Tanzania, he said China would strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation with African countries in such fields as agriculture and manufacturing, and help African countries to achieve internally driven and sustainable development.

Vice-Minister Li noted that Xi's visit has helped expand and improve the scope and quality of China-Africa economic cooperation.

China plans to extend cooperation into such sectors as finance, aviation and services while building a better environment, he said. Future projects will focus more on improving the locals' lives.

"The tendency exists and is becoming more obvious," said Dou Hongen, a senior engineer from the Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development at China National Petroleum Corp, who spent many years in Africa and South America.

Of China's investment in Africa, a higher percentage is going into local infrastructure to not only promote the overall investment environment but also raise people's living standards, he said.

"Gone are the days when people dug resources out of Africa's lands and shipped them somewhere else, leaving nothing but waste behind," he said.

His idea was echoed by Guo Xia, China Overseas Investment Institute's chief consultant, who noted that China's help to African countries in infrastructure would be mutually beneficial.

China currently faces overcapacity in industries such as steel and coal production, so it is advisable for the nation to transfer part of that production to Africa, where infrastructure construction is in dire need of such enterprises.

"In that way, Africa will accelerate construction while China can better deal with the challenges of overcapacity," he told China Daily.

"In the future, China's investment in Africa and other continents will focus more on the industrial and service sectors of the economy."

Speaking of long-term prospects for Chinese overseas investment, Guo added that "agricultural processing, light and heavy industries, as well as many other industries that need materials and labor also have the potential to be moved to Africa, which can further help create jobs for the local people".

The embassy of Ghana in Beijing listed "oil and gas, energy" along with "infrastructure, real estate development, manufacturing and industry" as being among priority sectors for Chinese investors.

Ghana also has favorable laws, the embassy said, adding that it hoped foreign investors could respect local culture more, which can help in promoting cooperation.

Ahmed El Ghernougui, minister counsellor at the embassy of Morocco, also expressed his approval of raising China's investment in Africa, which he said would promote local economic growth.

'Exceptional opportunities'

"As far as Chinese investors are concerned, exceptional opportunities exist in industries such as aerospace, automobiles, electronics, textiles and leather, offshore and agro-businesses," he said in at a recent high-level forum on China's overseas investment.

He added that "substantial investments in the telecommunications, industrial, real estate, tourism and banking sectors have seen the Moroccan economy grow significantly in recent years".

In the oil and gas sector, North Africa would like to have more capital from a cooperative relationship, but political disputes and safety issues have been a stumbling block to Chinese investment.

Although Africa has a wealth of natural resources, its refining technology has been lagging behind for years.

Over the past year, Africa's refining capacity as a whole remained flat, but many countries in the region have plans to build new refineries.

According to a report from the CNPC Economics and Technology Research Institute, Africa plans to build new crude oil refining capacity of 80 million metric tons by 2020.

Libya is planning to invest $60 billion to expand its refining capacity from its current 380,000 barrels a day to 1 million barrels a day to meet growing domestic demand for fuel and reducing its dependency on imported oil products.

Recently, Libya entered into discussions with Chinese companies, as well as BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Eni SpA and Total SA for possible joint ventures, though nothing has been nailed down yet.

At the 2012 Forum on China Africa Cooperation, China committed to extend $20 billion in loans to African governments by 2015.

China's loans to Africa total $30 billion to $40 billion, of which China Development Bank and Export-Import Bank of China each financed roughly half, Simon Freemantle, a senior Africa analyst at Standard Bank Group, and Jeremy Stevens, a Beijing-based economist for Standard Bank Group, said in a research note.

"China's policy banks still have capital available to commit to Africa. These loans to Africa play an important role in creating opportunities for Chinese construction and engineering firms and exporters eager to move up the value chain," the note said.