Jinhua Hosts the China-Africa Economic and Cultural Forum 2025
On 7 November 2025, the city of Jinhua in Zhejiang hosted the China-Africa Economic and Cultural Forum. The city of Jinhua is famous for its Yiwu wholesale market for small commodities. The theme of this edition was ‘Common Prosperity via Economic Partnership, Cultural Exchanges, and People-to-People (#P2P) Bridges’.
Some 400 representatives from 38 African countries and China attended the event. Several African ministers, as well as the African ambassadors in post in Beijing, were invited. The Vice Chairman of the National People’s Congress DING Zhongli, and the Deputy Secretary-General of Zhejiang Province, WANG Cheng, attended the opening plenary and delivered keynote addresses.
Daniel Mukoko, Deputy PM of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), presented his country as an example of a mineral-rich African country that welcomes foreign direct investments (#FDI) and technology transfer, while offering a large market and abundant resources.
During the event, the Normal University of Zhejiang and China-Africa Chamber of Commerce jointly unveiled the “China Overseas Direct Investments (ODI) into Africa 2025” report. The China-Africa Agritech Exchange Platform was also officially launched.
Several bilateral business fora between China and an African country took place in parallel during the event. Thus, the highlighted countries included the DR Congo and Tanzania. The delegates also had the opportunity to visit the Yiwu International Wholesale Market.
The event is part of the #FOCAC Ten-Point Action Plan 2025-2027, follows the Joint Declaration agreed upon at the Beijing Summit in 2024 (#FOCAC2024), and serves as a prelude to the Year of People-to-People Exchange between China and Africa in 2026. The event aims to promote the core pillars of the Belt and Road Initiative, namely global connectivity and cross-border trade. At the same time, the event coincides with the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan (#FYP) of China and the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan (#FYP15).
According to some estimates, some 30,000 businesspeople of Jinhua have business ties with Africa, and these Jinhua entrepreneurs have registered 2,420 companies across Africa. On the other side, it is estimated that 3,000 Africans live in Jinhua and are mostly involved in doing business between China and Africa. Every year, the Yiwu International Wholesale Market welcomes some 80,000 visits from African traders, with some coming several times in a year. In addition, more than 15,000 African students have come to Jinhua for studies so far.
The Government of Zhejiang reported that deals worth RMB 40 billion were signed during the event. The deal included not only orders of goods, but also contracts for projects involving infrastructure, renewable energy, and eCommerce. For ten consecutive years, Jinhua has been ranked as the first Chinese city for exports to Africa. For the first three quarters of 2025, exports from Jinhua to Africa surpassed RMB 111 billion, representing a 28% increase over the corresponding period in 2024. The city of Jinhua accounts for nearly 10% of all Chinese exports to Africa. From the other side, the volume of imports from Africa is still modest, with ample room for improvement.