Photo shows Shen Yumou, head of Hunan's Department of Commerce, delivers a speech at the Morocco session of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, June 10, 2026.
China's Hunan Province has been developing six major platforms to further promote economic and trade cooperation with African countries, said Shen Yumou, head of the province's department of commerce.
Shen made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the Morocco session of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo on June 10. In his speech, he sent out invitation of cooperation to participating entrepreneurs at the expo.
As he introduced, Hunan is developing a distribution and trading center for African non-resource products, aiming to bring quality African products into the Chinese market and help increase the value of products from Morocco.
For example, beyond importing Moroccan rosemary, Hunan will also introduce it to China's biopharmaceutical industry chain. It also provides one-stop services covering warehousing, processing and omni-channel sales for products such as argan oil, essential oils and nuts.
Hunan has also established a China-Africa cross-border e-commerce cooperation center and a China-Africa industrial chain cultivation center. It has introduced an innovative new barter trade model, under which Moroccan phosphate and mineral resources are exchanged for Hunan-made construction machinery and new energy equipment, promoting deeper cooperation between Moroccan partners and leading Chinese manufacturers such as Sany Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. and Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd.
To facilitate logistics linkage, Hunan is improving the China-Africa economic and trade cooperation service center and a logistics hub serving central and western China for trade with Africa. Leveraging the Hunan-Guangdong-Africa rail-sea intermodal transport network, the province has established an end-to-end logistics corridor linking Hunan and North Africa.
Additionally, Hunan has been building a China-Africa economic and trade exchange and promotion center, serving as a platform to promote regular exchanges and interactions between Chinese and African companies through setting up permanent exhibition halls and holding exchange activities.
Shen called on both sides to turn the ten-thousand-kilometer distance between China and Africa into opportunity and their differences into complementary strengths.
The event was jointly organized by the Secretariat of the Organizing Committee of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo and Morocco's Ministry of Industry and Trade. More than ten thematic events, business matchmaking sessions and exhibition activities were held during the event. (Edited by Lixueqing with Xinhua Silk Road, lixueqing@xinhua.org)
A single purchase
