An increasing number of Chinese enterprises are considering Africa for new ventures, as the ancient continent has seen a promising investment environment in recent years and the Chinese government has put forward a series of measures to encourage Chinese enterprises to start business in Africa.

The total of China's investment in Africa had reached US$6.27 billion by the end of 2005, channeled to fields such as natural resources, infrastructure, architecture, textile, transportation, and power.

The contracted projects undertaken by Chinese companies in Africa have included house building, petrochemistry, electricity, transportation, and telecommunication.

According to the statistics from the Import and Export Bank of China, over 100 enterprises of the 800 Chinese businesses with investment in Africa are middle or large-scale state-owned ones, while the majority of the rest are individually run.

The extensive presence of Chinese enterprises enables them to be a key player in the African business sector.

A fundamental reason for Africa's growing attraction to Chinese enterprises is the improvement of the investment environment on the continent. The African economy has stepped out of the shadow of a lasting downturn and embraced a rare opportunity for development since 2003.

The International Monetary Fund forecasts that African countries will have an average economic growth rate of 5.9 percent this year. A report from the World Bank also pointed out that two-thirds of African nations made at least one reform to improve their business environment in 2005-2006, among which Tanzania and Ghana staged outstanding performance.

Since the 1970’s, the tendency towards political stability, the steady economic growth, cheap labor force, and favorable measures tailored to attract foreign investment have guaranteed that Africa is in a prime time.

In addition, the encouragement measures put forward by the Chinese government have added an impetus to the efforts of the Chinese enterprises to gain access to Africa.

Beijing announced a series of steps to strengthen the Sino-African economic and trade cooperation during the Beijing Summit of the Forum of China-African Cooperation (FOCAC) last November, offering an unprecedented new opportunity for Chinese enterprises to invest in Africa.

The eight steps announced by Chinese President Hu Jintao to boost the pragmatic cooperation with Africa and five proposals put forward by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last November have all created sound conditions for the Chinese business to make investment in Africa.

"Stepping into Africa" brings about a win-win result for Africa and China.

The latest report from the World Bank said that China's investment in Africa is playing a positive role in boosting African economic growth and the impact will be even greater in the future.

Gobind Nankani, the World Bank's vice president for Africa region, said last November that African countries are benefiting from increasing Chinese investment, and will benefit more with more technologies from the Chinese enterprises.

(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2007)