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well as strengthening understanding and communication between Chinese and African entrepreneurs.

The Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce said at the event, Chinese industrialists will have extensive exchanges and negotiations with business representatives from Africa on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, seeking potential investment, trade opportunities for co-operation.

Previous FOCAC conferences were held successfully in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2003; Beijing, China, in 2006; and Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt; in 2009.
“This year FOCAC will surely become another significant event in the history of China-Africa economic and trade relations,” said the ZNCC.

It said the two-day programme of FOCAC included the opening ceremony, plenary session, and business matchmaking and signing.
Trade volume on agricultural products between China and Africa reached US$4,78 billion in 2011, a 40,2 percent jump over the 2010 figures and seven times that of 2001.

With Zimbabwe, trade levels doubled to US$800 million in the last two years as ties between the two countries continued to grow.
One of the major trade commodities between the two countries is tobacco, where China is Zimbabwe’s biggest buyer of the golden leaf. The Chinese government has also provided support through donations to various initiatives in the country worth over US$25 million since 2009. — New Ziana.