Nigeria Times

By Guo Jiping, People’s Daily

The third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) is slated to take place in Beijing from Oct. 17 to 18. Themed “High-quality Belt and Road Cooperation: Together for Common Development and Prosperity”, the forum, to be held on the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, is set to bring together representatives from over 140 countries and more than 30 international organizations.

Since it was proposed 10 years ago, the BRI has ushered in many heartening stories of cooperation of the times.

British scholar Martin Jacques has pointed out that it is not an exaggeration to argue that over the decade of its existence the BRI has “changed the world”.

A review of the BRI cooperation in the overall context of global changes and development of the times can help better understand how it has changed the world.

The BRI was proposed at a time when the deep impacts of the Global Financial Crisis continued to emerge, and the international community faced the common task of exploring new growth points and starting a new cycle of world economic growth.

At that time, the foundations of global economic growth were unstable, trade and investment were sluggish, and economic globalization suffered setbacks while imbalances in development intensified.

In an effort to help the international community jointly meet the challenges of the times and overcome obstacles to development through cooperation, China proposed the BRI, a solution full of Oriental wisdom.

“The Belt and Road Initiative embodies our pursuit of common development. The Initiative aims to break development bottlenecks, narrow development gaps and promote the sharing of development fruits among countries. It envisions a community of common development where we work together through thick and thin for a shared future,” Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out.

Focusing on the fundamental issue of development, the BRI aims to realize economic integration, interconnected development, and the sharing of achievements through the alignment of development strategies, injecting impetus into global economic recovery.

In June 2019, the World Bank released a special research report, which presented the concept of “Belt and Road Economics”. According to the report, BRI transport projects, if fully implemented, could contribute to lifting 32 million people who live on less than $3.20 a day from moderate poverty, and are estimated to increase trade by as much as 6.2 percent for the world.

Development is an inalienable right of all countries, not a privilege reserved for a few. However, the reality in recent years is that the global development gap continues to widen, and imbalanced development has become the biggest imbalance in today’s world.

The BRI has unleashed the development potential of developing countries and promoted balanced, coordinated and inclusive global development.

It has helped many countries improve infrastructure, establish their own industrial systems, and solve long-standing problems such as power and talent shortages. Thanks to cooperation projects under the framework of the BRI, many countries have built their first expressway, first modern railway, first industrial park, among other key infrastructure facilities.

A foreign scholar noted that the BRI has created development opportunities for countries in the Global South and changed the prospects for many developing countries.

For a long time, some developing and least developed countries have become “forgotten corners” in the tide of economic globalization. The international community has increasingly recognized the need to reform the traditional global economic governance model and establish a new global development philosophy that is fair and inclusive.

Upholding the aim of facilitating policy coordination, infrastructure connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and closer people-to-people ties, the BRI has promoted connectivity over land, maritime, air and cyberspace.

It has facilitated the building of high-quality, sustainable, risk-resilient, reasonably priced, inclusive and accessible infrastructure, promoting the orderly flow of production factors, efficient allocation of resources, and deep integration of markets. This has helped more countries better integrate into global supply, industrial, and value chains, making it an effective solution to promote healthy economic globalization and build an open world economy.

For many countries, the development opportunities brought about by the BRI are unprecedented. Because of these unprecedented development opportunities, Kazakhstan, the world’s largest landlocked country, has gained access to the sea, Croatians held grand celebrations on the day the Peljesac Bridge opened, Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina joined the public in cheering “Goodbye, mud!” at the opening ceremony of the Route Nationale 5A after a renovation project. The list goes on.

The BRI has brought to the world a new type of economic globalization and a new model of global economic governance.

The BRI is very timely and is a better benchmark for economic globalization, said former German President and former International Monetary Fund Managing Director Horst Koehler.

BRI cooperation represents a new model of international relations and world trade that will make globalization fairer and more humane, pointed out former Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev.

By Liu Shi’an, Xie Weiqun, Fang Min, People’s Daily

Building pilot free trade zones (FTAs) is an important strategic measure of China to comprehensively deepen reform and expand opening up in the new era.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of China’s first pilot FTZ in Shanghai. Over the past decade, the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, or Shanghai FTZ, has achieved a series of important outcomes in liberalizing and facilitating trade and investment, promoting financial openness and innovation, and enhancing governance capability of the government.

Aligned with international economic and trade practices, the Shanghai FTZ introduced a negative list for foreign investment upon its establishment. Market access for foreign investment has transitioned from a review-based system to a filing-based one. Today, there number of items on the list has been shortened to 27 from 190 , with no restrictions imposed on the manufacturing sector.

This July, leading circular materials technology company Umicore headquartered in Belgium set up a technology development company in the Waigaoqiao Bonded area of the Shanghai FTZ, with an investment of 15 million euros ($15.92 million).

“Less items on the negative list mean less restrictions. The market access for foreign investment is getting wider and wider, which better facilitates the investment of enterprises,” said Zhang Kefang, an executive of Umicore.

As the negative list shortened, the Shanghai FTZ has implemented a number of first-in-China projects in 60 areas of opening up including automobile manufacturing, financial services, medical services, and value-added telecommunications. It promoted the formulation of the systems of pre-establishment national treatment and negative list for foreign investment, as well as their incorporation in the foreign investment law, and introduced the negative list for foreign investment to cross-border service trade and market access sectors.

The establishment of a “single window” platform for international trade marked a significant innovation of the Shanghai FTZ in promoting trade facilitation.

As the head of the planning department of Shanghai-based E&P international, a company specialized in the development of information technology in aspects of international trade and port logistics, Pan Xiaodong was involved in the development of the “single window” platform ten years ago.

“Similar to ‘one-stop online service’ in the field of international trade, this platform seamlessly integrates customs, quarantine, maritime, and border inspection information, greatly facilitating customs clearance and trade,” Pan said.

So far, the “single window” platform has served over 600,000 trade enterprises, facilitating the data processing of more than a quarter of China’s total trade in goods.

The Shanghai FTZ takes institutional innovation as its core task, with a focus on generating replicable and scalable institutional outcomes. Of the 302 institutional innovation outcomes for FTZs promoted nationwide, nearly half were pioneered or synchronously piloted in Shanghai.

Finance is a crucial area for the experimentation of free trade. Speaking of the opening up of the financial sector, Lu Fang, CEO of J.P. Morgan Securities (China) Co., Ltd. noted that foreign investment in the financial sector used to be subject to equity ownership restrictions. “The Shanghai FTZ has been at the forefront of financial liberalization,” Lu added.

The free trade account introduced by the Shanghai FTZ is a “pioneer” in innovative cross-border RMB business, with integrated financial services for cross-border settlement and financing in both RMB and foreign currencies.

As of now, Shanghai has cumulatively opened 144,000 free trade accounts, handling the equivalent of 142 trillion yuan ($19.5 trillion) in cross-border settlement transactions, with an average annual growth of 61 percent. The total financing that enterprises have obtained through free trade accounts in RMB and foreign currencies totaled 2.8 trillion yuan.

International asset management institutions are increasingly flocking to the Shanghai FTZ. Since 2020, nine of the world’s top ten asset management companies have chosen to establish offices in Shanghai’s Pudong New Area.

“We firmly believe in the potential of the Chinese market and will continue to bring our diverse range of resources to Shanghai, exploring new models for the development of asset management companies in China,” said general manager of Schroder Investment Management (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Zhang Lan.

By combining the expansion of opening up with institutional reforms, Shanghai has been actively promoting the transformation of government functions, innovative management models, optimized operational mechanisms, and a shift in service approaches.

It continuously works to optimize the market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment. It is reported that Shanghai has delegated over 100 municipal-level administrative approval matters to the government of Pudong New Area.

“Recently, a new Lawson convenience store opened in Pudong, and the procedures went smoothly,” said Jin Ye, deputy director of the business risk control department of Shanghai Lawson, Inc.

“In the past, it would take nearly two months to complete the procedures for opening a store, but now it only takes two to three days,” Jin noted.

After a decade of hard work, the Shanghai FTZ has achieved remarkable success. By the end of 2022, over 84,000 enterprises had been newly registered in FTZ, along with more than 14,000 new foreign-funded projects. The total amount of foreign investment reached $58.6 billion.

In 2022, Pudong New Area’s GDP hit 1.6 trillion yuan, 2.5 times higher than that of 2013. Since its establishment, the Lingang new area of the Shanghai FTZ has experienced an average annual GDP growth of 21.2 percent.

By Liu Zhiqiang, People’s Daily

China’s GDP grew 5.2 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2023, reaching 91.3 trillion yuan (about $ 12.7 trillion), according to statistics recently released by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The growths in the first, second and third quarters were 4.5 percent, 6.3 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively.

In the first three quarters, China’s economy withstood downward pressure and continued to recover, said Sheng Laiyun, deputy head of the NBS, during a press conference on Oct. 18.

Particularly in the third quarter, multiple sectors and indicators showed positive changes, and the trend of overall economic recovery has become even more prominent, he added.

Deducting the base effect, the average two-year growth in the January-September period this year stood at 4.4 percent, 1.1 percentage points higher than the Q2 figure. China’s GDP increased by 1.3 percent quarter-on-quarter in Q3, 0.8 percentage points higher than that of the second quarter.

Whether looking at year-on-year growth in the third quarter or cumulative growth in the first three quarters, China was among the top-performing major economies, Sheng said.

Employment performance was better. In the first three quarters, the surveyed urban unemployment rate nationwide was 5.3 percent, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points compared to the same period last year, and it improved month by month. In September, this figure stood at 5 percent, 0.2 percentage points down from August.

Overall price levels remained stable. In the January-September period, China’s consumer price index (CPI) went up moderately by 0.4 percent, and the producer price index (PPI) for industrial products fell by 3.1 percent year on year, with a narrowing decline for three consecutive months.

In particular, in September, the PPI decreased by 2.5 percent year-on-year, nearly 3 percentage points less than the lowest point in June, indicating a stable and improving domestic demand.

High-quality development was steadily advanced. For example, innovation momentum remained abundant. In the first three quarters, investment in high-tech industries grew 11.4 percent year-on-year, with the production of electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and solar cells maintaining rapid growth. Also, resident income increased steadily. In the first three quarters, the per capita disposable income of residents nationwide was 29,398 yuan, up 5.9 percent in real terms after deducting price factors, higher than GDP growth.

“These positive changes fully demonstrated that China’s economy has continued to recover and improve in the first three quarters, and also highlighted the tremendous resilience, potential, and vitality of the Chinese economy,” Sheng said.

Looking ahead, Sheng said growth will likely pick up in the fourth quarter given the continued recovery trend and stimulus policy measures taking effect gradually. “We are very confident in achieving the annual target,” he said.

Consumption will continue to recover and improve. Sheng Laiyun explained that in the first three quarters, commodity consumption, service consumption, and household consumption expenditure have steadily rebounded, and local governments are accelerating the implementation of policies to promote consumption. Additionally, improvement in employment and growth in residents’ income have laid a foundation for the recovery and growth of consumption, he added.

The industrial economy also bounced back steadily. In the first three quarters, the value-added industrial output of enterprises above designated size grew 4 percent year on year. In Sheng’s view, a series of operational indicators have also released positive signals: purchasing managers’ index returned to expansion territory; PPI declines narrowed for 3 consecutive months; industrial profits turned positive in August; in the first three quarters, the capacity utilization of industrial enterprises was 74.8 percent, and the sales-output ratio of industrial enterprises above designated size was 96.8 percent, up 0.4 and 0.6 percentage points respectively from the first half. “Some of the positive changes in the economic sphere are preliminary, and the sustainability of these changes needs further observation. The foundation for stable economic recovery still needs to be consolidated,” said Sheng. He added that in the next stage, it is crucial to ensure policy implementation and further cement the foundation for e

By Liu Yao

Through in-depth space cooperation, China and many countries in the world have jointly built a broad and magnificent “space silk road,” contributing to the development and utilization of space resources and the progress of human civilization.

The constellation of the Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) is working around the clock in the space. Since the system’s commissioning more than three years ago, the application models of the BDS has been enriched, with its fields of application getting wider and wider.

According to statistics, the BDS-3 has provided accelerated positioning and high-precision service to more than 1.5 billion users in more than 230 countries and regions, winning more and more recognition from the international community.

In Xai-Xai, Gaza Province of Mozambique, there is a 20,000-hectare rice farm, the largest rice planting cooperation project in Africa. To plough the fields, and plant, manage and harvest crops on such a huge farmland was once a big challenge for local rice growers.

It was the innovation in agricultural technologies utilizing the BDS that benefited local rice growers. They can now control sprayer drones via mobile applications, thanks to the geographical positioning enabled by the Chinese positioning system.

Obtaining real-time geographical information through the BDS, sprayer drones are able to apply pesticides according to preset flight paths. Compared with traditional spraying methods, which rely on manual effort and can only cover a couple mu (667 square meters) each hour, BDS-enabled sprayer drones can treat over 100 mu of land every hour. Moreover, the drones can operate at night, dramatically improving efficiency.

The Sarez Lake in eastern Tajikistan is the world’s highest quake lake. It houses the highest and biggest natural dam in the world. Monitoring the deformation of the dam situated in a seismically active zone and thus protecting the safety of local residents remains an important issue.

A Chinese research team developed a deformation monitoring service platform for the dam based on the BDS, with a millimeter-level precision. With this platform, researchers can remotely monitor the deformation of the dam and send science-based warnings. The system has also been employed to monitor expressway side slopes in Kyrgyzstan and snow slides in Tajikistan.

According to Chen Gucang, deputy director of the China Satellite Navigation Office, the BDS is applied in a wide range of fields, and has played a significant role in the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan highway as well as the operation of China-Kazakhstan crude oil pipeline and the China-Europe freight trains.

Two China-funded prototype satellites of the MisrSat II satellite project were delivered to the Egyptian side in June this year, making Egypt the first African country with the capacity to assemble, integrate and test satellites.

In December 2014, China and Egypt signed an agreement to carry out cooperation on the development of remote-sensing satellites. According to the agreement, China would build Egypt’s first satellite assembly, integration and test center.

The two countries signed an agreement for the MisrSat II satellite project in January 2019, based on which China would provide the Egyptian side with a small remote-sensing satellite, a ground measurement and control station and a ground application system. Besides, China would also train Egyptian aerospace experts.

Prior to that, Egypt did not have its own satellite assembly, integration and test center, nor satellite development capabilities. It could only import complete foreign satellites. The completion of the China-funded center has provided Egypt with world-leading aerospace infrastructure.

Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat noted that these advanced technologies and equipment are important to not only Egypt, but also entire Africa.

China has established cooperation with many countries and regions in jointly developing and launching communication or remote-sensing satellites, as well as constructing satellite ground receiving stations and other space infrastructure. These efforts have played a positive role in the development of local sectors such as communication, agriculture, culture, environmental protection, and meteorology.

The China National Space Administration said that China is committed to promoting global technological progress and the sharing of innovative achievements, with an aim to enhance the capabilities of people around the world to explore and utilize space.

China always follows the principles of “peaceful use, equality, mutual benefit and common development.” It is committed to transforming the Chinese space station into an open platform for international scientific and technological cooperation and exchanges.

Lin Xiqiang, a spokesperson and deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency, stated that the first batch of China’s international cooperation projects in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs will soon conduct experiments on the space station. Additionally, the implementation of 10 space application projects in collaboration with the European Space Agency is also progressing in an orderly manner.

China’s lunar exploration program has opened up opportunities for international cooperation on Chang’e-8 to the international society. It welcomes countries and international organizations to join and carry out multilevel collaboration together to achieve more major original scientific discoveries.

By Zheng Shaozhong, Zhou Huan, People’s Daily

The 2023 World Conference on VR (virtual reality) Industry opened in Nanchang, east China’s Jiangxi province on Oct. 19.

Since its first edition in 2018, the VR industry conference has been held annually in Nanchang. During the past five editions of the conference, 562 projects were signed with a total amount of 336.6 billion yuan ($46.05 billion). A national vocational education virtual simulation demonstration training base and the National Virtual Reality Innovation Center have been set up in Jiangxi.

In recent years, with the continuous convergence of quality resources such as VR projects, technologies, talents, and funds, Jiangxi province has been emerging as a prominent hub for the VR industry.

Now, the province is home to more than 400 VR enterprises, and the revenue of VR and relevant industries surged from 4.2 billion yuan in 2018 to 81.2 billion last year.

Jiangxi-based automobile manufacturer Jiangling Motors Corporation Limited, or JMC, has an intelligent 5G factory that produces special purpose vehicles.

“Through innovative applications such as VR inspections, we have achieved automatic equipment failure warnings and reduced inspection time by approximately 30 percent,” said Yan Zongming, general manager of the company that retrofitted the factory.

According to Yan, China Unicom, one of the largest telecommunications operators in China, landed a VR/AR (augmented reality) base in Jiangxi province in 2020, which attracted over 10 relevant companies to settle in. These enterprises are engaged in various fields including software and hardware development, big data analysis and digital twin.

Thanks to this strong ecosystem, the revenue of Yan’s company jumped from around a million yuan when it just started to 21.54 million yuan in 2022.

Jiangxi takes VR as a key industry. It not only promotes integrated development of the industry’s capital chain, innovation chain, and industrial chain, but also strives to promote complementary development between the VR industry and other advantageous sectors, such as electronic information, the Internet of Things (IoT), and big data.

In a workshop of Pimax Nanchang, mainly engaged in the production and manufacture of VR headsets, three production line were seen working simultaneously.

Li Jie, vice president of the company, said that optical modules needed by the company are supplied by the Nanchang production base of Ofilm Group, and the company’s VR contents come from Nanchang-based Tellhow Creative Technology Group.

According to him, Pimax Nanchang is thriving thanks to the local VR industry cluster and the sound collaboration among relevant enterprises. The revenue of the company stood at 11.31 million yuan in 2022 and is expected to reach 20 million this year.

In Jiangxi province, VR and relevant technologies are now applied in a number of scenarios, boosting the development of various industries. For instance, students can “repair” a vehicle with VR controllers, and with VR equipment, R&D personnel can significantly improve their work performance and efficiency.

“Learning a skill well requires a lot of practice, and simulation training helps us make up for the lack of hands-on experience,” said Zhou Tao, a student majoring in urban rail transit operation and management at Jiangxi Modern Polytechnic College, who joined a half-month training at the national vocational education virtual simulation demonstration training base in Nanchang.

“Through VR technology, we can familiarize ourselves with the structures of vehicle equipment components in the classroom,” he added.

At present, the base provides training for 26 vocational education courses in nine major categories including equipment manufacturing, transportation, and healthcare. Upon full operation, the base will be able to train 100,000 people each year and bring an enormous market of at least 200 million yuan.

A demonstration agriculture base in Jiangxi province has developed a metaverse online shop that allows customers to “pick” fruits and vegetables on their mobile phones. After customers enter a virtual version of the farm on a mobile application and select the fruits and vegetables they want, robots would pick, pack and then mail them to customers.

“The majority of the research, production, and management for the base’s over 300 mu (20 hectares) of agricultural projects now utilize the metaverse technology,” said Meng Fanming, general manager of the base.

“VR is considered an important gateway technology for the metaverse. After years of development, Jiangxi has initially established a complete VR industry chain with a solid industrial ecology foundation,” said Liao Guoqiong, dean of the VR Modern Industrial College of Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics.

He added that multiple key VR R&D platforms including the Jiangxi Research Institute of Beihang University, Huawei Nanchang Institute, and a VR innovation center of China Mobile have settled in Jiangxi, and this will build more new momentums for Jiangxi’s development.

By Liao Ruiling

The sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE) is scheduled to be held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) from Nov. 5 to 10.

As the world’s first import-themed national-level expo, the CIIE has become a showcase of China’s new development paradigm, a platform for high-standard opening-up, and a public good for the whole world.

The first CIIE was held in Shanghai in November 2018. Since then, the CIIE has been held annually in November, becoming an important platform for promoting exchanges and cooperation among enterprises and various parties.

In the previous five editions, 131 countries and international organizations participated in country exhibitions, with nearly 2,000 new products, technologies, and services making their debuts and a total intended turnover reaching nearly $350 billion.

The sixth CIIE will resume offline country exhibition and invite guest countries of honor. So far, over 60 countries have officially announced their participation in this year’s country exhibition. Notably, prominent international organizations, including the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, and the International Trade Center, have also confirmed their attendance. Approximately 3,000 enterprises will attend the sixth CIIE, too, with total exhibition areas surpassing 360,000 square meters.

According to preliminary statistics, at least dozens of executives from Fortune Global 500 and industry-leading companies will attend the exhibition. Over 330 guests from some 30 countries and regions are expected to join the Hongqiao International Economic Forum.

This year’s CIIE will welcome both new friends that are about to make their debut at the event and old friends that have joined the exhibition before. Among the 3,000 global companies participating this year, approximately 200 companies have been signing up for six consecutive years, and around 400 companies are returning to the expo after a gap of more than two years.

“GE HealthCare is one of the earliest multinational corporations to participate in the CIIE. We’ve joined every year since the first edition,” said Zhong Luyin, chief communications officer of GE HealthCare China.

She noted that the CIIE is a place where cutting edge technologies are showcased, and has become a platform for many healthcare enterprises to debut their new products, frontier technologies and services.

“This year we will launch 10 products and services, in hope to strengthen communication with our partners through this platform,” Zhong added.

Many exhibitors have already booked exhibition booths for the 7th CIIE. At a signing ceremony for exhibitors of the 7th CIIE held on Sept. 15, 25 enterprises including GE HealthCare and Panasonic signed contracts or MoUs concerning the exhibition at the 7th CIIE. So far, contracted exhibition area for the CIIE next year has exceeded 40,000 square meters.

As a member of the delegation of centrally-administered state-owned enterprises to the CIIE, China Construction Second Engineering Bureau Co.,Ltd. will attend the CIIE for a fifth time this year.

“The CIIE provides us with a platform to purchase global products without leaving the country. The elevators, electrical equipment and other imported products we procured at the CIIE were intelligent and environmentally friendly, providing strong support for our efforts in promoting green and smart construction,” said Zhao Guozheng, deputy general manager of East China Branch of China Construction Second Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd.

A range of significant opening-up measures have been introduced for the CIIE, which showcases China’s confidence and determination in opening up.

According to Sun Chenghai, deputy director of the CIIE Bureau, these measures announced during the expo to facilitate the entry of exhibitors and buyers, to provide tax incentives for retained exhibits, and to strengthen intellectual property right protection, have optimized the domestic business environment.

This July, the General Administration of Customs issued 17 measures to facilitate the 6th CIIE. These measures cover the entire process from exhibitor admission to customs clearance and post-exhibition disposal of exhibits.

The 6th CIIE will also expand its scope of exhibition, allowing animal and plant products and food that have not completed inspection and quarantine procedures from countries or regions that are free from animal and plant epidemics to join the exhibition after obtaining special approvals.

Sheng Qiuping, China’s vice minister of commerce, said that in the future, China will work to rationally reduce the negative list of foreign investment in pilot free trade zones, and at the same time, promote the introduction of a negative list for cross-border trade in services, and lead the country to continue to expand opening up.

By Zhang Zhiwen, Zhang Mengxu, Shen Xiaoxiao, People’s Daily

The China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone(SETC-Zone), which sits on the shores of the Red Sea and south of the Suez Canal, and just celebrated its 15th anniversary, has developed into a thriving hub for trade and investment with well-built infrastructure, abundant industrial clusters, advanced logistics and warehousing facilities, and comprehensive amenities.

The cooperation zone, while accelerating strategic upgrading, has become a key platform of investment and cooperation for Chinese and Egyptian companies.

After two phases of construction, the SETC-Zone has grown into an industrial park featuring the best comprehensive environment, the highest density of investment, the highest per-unit output that attracts the most Chinese enterprises in Egypt.

It is now home to more than 140 companies, with actual investment exceeding $1.6 billion, total sales volume of over $3.7 billion and taxations of more than $200 million. The cooperation zone offers nearly 6,000 direct jobs and about 50,000 employment opportunities in related industries.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi called the cooperation zone the most successful project of the Suez Canal Corridor.

“I’ve made many visits to the SETC-Zone and each time I had new discoveries. The SETC-Zone is getting better and better, with more and more enterprises settling in,” said Abdul-Majeed Saqr, governor of Egypt’s Suez governorate, adding that the complete supporting facilities and favorable investment policies in the SETC-Zone are hugely attractive. He noted TEDA, the developer of the SETC-Zone, is a reliable partner of Egypt.

Chinese enterprise Jushi, which specializes in the manufacture and sales of fiberglass and its finished articles, has been investing in Egypt since 2012. Its subsidiary company in Egypt named Jushi Egypt Fiberglass Co., Ltd.(Jushi Egypt). It has a gigantic factory in the SETC-Zone, which has over 2,000 workers, as well as some 30 Chinese management personnel and technicians. Most of the jobs in production and management are taken by local Egyptians.

No one would imagine that the bustling factory was still a desert 10 years ago. Wu Ping, general manager of the company, said that Jushi encountered a series of challenges when it first entered Egypt, such as short power supply and water scarcity. However, it rose to these challenges and launched mutually beneficial cooperation with relevant parties in Egypt. In the past decade, Jushi Egypt built four production lines of fiberglass and assisting facilities. The factory, after four phases of construction, boasts an annual capacity of 340,000 tons, and is the largest production base of fiberglass in the African continent.

Jushi Egypt also actively fulfills its social responsibility, working to improve local environment and contributing to community development. It provides assistance for local orphanages and impoverished residents, and donates teaching and living materials to local schools.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said that as China Jushi expands its investment in Egypt, it has created a large number of job opportunities and driven the development of Egypt’s manufacturing industry.

Nurturing talents that align with industrial and societal needs is one of the key objectives of Egypt’s industrial modernization.

Lining the wide roads of the SETC-Zone stand rows of gleaming new workshops, which constitute a dishwasher factory of Midea (Egypt) Kitchen & Water Heater Appliances Co., Ltd. In the factory, local workers are always seen assemble parts along the production line, test equipment, and learn new techniques under the guidance of Chinese technicians.

Chinese companies investing in Egypt are not only creating quality products for local residents, but also helping equip the local workforce for Egypt’s industrial modernization.

General manager Chen Weiwei of Midea (Egypt) Kitchen & Water Heater Appliances Co., Ltd. said that the dishwasher rack production line introduced by Midea has filled a technological gap in Egypt’s dishwasher manufacturing sector. It has not only cultivated a batch of local welders, but also driven the localization of a series of key technologies, reducing the cost and price of dishwashers, and making dishwashers more affordable and accessible for Egyptian consumers.

Kamel, a team leader of the factory, was among the first batch of employees to join the company in December 2022. He received on-the-job training and learned the whole process of dishwasher manufacturing under the guidance of Chinese employees.

After three months of systematic training, Kamel turned into a skillful worker and was recently promoted to a team leader. Batches of new employees have acquired work skills under the instruction of key technicians.

“I’m glad that I can work here. I will keep working hard to create a better life with my own hands,” said Kamel.

Chen noted that the current production capacity of this dishwasher assembly line can meet the market demand in the Middle East, and new assembly lines will be set up in the future to produce more dishwashers. “We will further promote localization in research and development, manufacturing, and employees, and focus on the local market to provide a wider range of home appliances for users in the region,”

By Qiu Haifeng

In many regions across China, food is characterized by spicy flavor. According to statistics released by a recent conference on China’s chili pepper industry development, China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of chili peppers, and grows this plant in 28 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. The chili pepper industry is constantly expanding in the country.

“Since the introduction of chili peppers to China over 400 years ago when it was originally used for ornamental purposes, people have discovered the diverse values of the plant, including edible and medicinal properties, and the planting scale has expanded accordingly,” said Lin Qiao, associate research fellow at the Agricultural Information Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS).

Chili peppers are nutrient-rich, offer a wide range of flavors and feature a strong growth ability. They can be consumed fresh or processed into chili sauce, dried chili or chili oil. Besides, chili peppers also have significant economic and social value. Compounds like capsaicin and capsanthin found in chilies are utilized in medicine, food, and industry.

Both planting areas and production of chili peppers have been on a steady growth worldwide in recent years, and China’s chili pepper industry has also embraced rapid development.

Statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations showed that 36.72 percent of the world’s chili peppers were grown in China in 2021.

A significant rise has been observed in both the global and Chinese production of chili peppers in recent years. In particular, the output of chili peppers in China accounts for nearly half of the global total, making the country the world’s largest producer of chili peppers.

The Chinese people’s demand for chili peppers also expanded as the country’s chili pepper production grew. Lin noted that owing to a spicy food craze in recent years, over 500 million people in China eat spicy food, with Jiangxi, Guizhou, Hunan and Sichuan provinces as well as Chongqing municipality as the main consuming regions of chili peppers.

Apart from satisfying domestic demand, Chinese chili peppers are also getting onto the dining tables of consumers around the world. Statistics indicate that China’s chili pepper exports reached $1.7 billion in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 11.6 percent. The United States, Japan and Spain remained the largest three importers of China’s chili peppers, consuming 41.1 percent of the total chili pepper exports from China.

The growing chili pepper industry, while meeting the market demand, has become a pivotal driver for farmer’s income growth in many regions.

“This year our chili pepper harvest was good, with a yield of over 3,000 kilograms per mu (667 square meters),” said chili farmer Tan Baohui in Fuxing village, Yihetala township, Kailu county, Tongliao, north China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

“With the high yield and increased prices, this year I earned 0.2 yuan ($0.03) more per kilogram compared to last year, netting over 5,000 yuan per mu,” Tan noted.

According to an official with the local agricultural and animal husbandry bureau, Kailu county is the county with the largest planting area of red chili peppers in China. The average annual output of red chili peppers in the county is around 1.5 billion kilograms.

More than 60,000 farming households in the county are engaged in chili pepper cultivation, while over 50,000 people work in the chili pepper industry. They generate 360 million yuan in labor income each year.

In Xiaoxian county, Suzhou, east China’s Anhui province, the majority of income of local farmers doesn’t come from the sales of chili peppers, but the seeds of the plant.

“We have a standard greenhouse base for seed breeding, which covers over 300 mu, and we are mainly engaged in the propagation, processing, sales and technological promotion of chili pepper seeds,” said Mu Keli, who heads a demonstration base of scientific research of a seed company in Xiaoxian county.

According to Mu, the standard greenhouse base helps over 100 farming households earn extra income of over 10 million yuan per year through chili pepper seed breeding. This year, the seeds bred at the base were all sold out, and the base is preparing to plant new seedlings, Mu added.

The chili pepper seeds produced in Xiaoxian county are sold throughout China and exported to Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia. According to an official with the county’s agricultural and animal husbandry bureau, the county currently produces over 350,000 kilograms of high-quality chili pepper seeds annually, with a revenue close to 1 billion yuan, which directly increases income for over 6,000 farming households.

“From cultivation, seed production, primary processing to advanced processing, the continuous extension of the chili industrial chain has steadily increased the added value of products, further broadening channels for farmers to increase income,” said Lin.

To promote the development the chili pepper industry, regions across China are continuing their efforts.

Guizhou province recently made clear that it will focus on building an “ecological Guizhou chili” brand, and strongly support the applications for local brands, corporate brands and national geographical indication products.

Inner Mongolia autonomous region proposed supports for the development of intensive seed breeding companies, continues to advance large-scale, mechanized development of open cultivation of chili peppers.

Hunan province is integrating cultural resources related to chili pepper, striving to build a new signature for its tourism industry.