The seventh China-Africa People's Forum and the China-Africa Young Leaders Forum concluded on Friday in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, where over 200 African leaders from business, education and politics discussed new fields of cooperation with China.
Attendees from more than fifty African nations gathered at the three-day exchange, eager to learn from China's latest reforms and modernization efforts. The opening ceremony highlighted achievements and potential collaborations in sectors such as healthcare, education, culture, and aerospace.
"China has supported us a lot in terms of infrastructure development, mining, agriculture and tourism. [There are] many Chinese companies that are actually imparting new skills and new technologies into our economic development," said Obert Mpofu, Secretary-General of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), the country's ruling party.
China has been the continent's largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years, with bilateral trade hitting a record 282 billion U.S. dollars last year.
Private companies are at the forefront of this growth, with over 70 percent of the 3,000 Chinese enterprises investing in Africa being private firms.
"We want many companies from China to come and set up their businesses in Kenya so that we can learn from their new technologies. Number two is about education and research. We want to work with Chinese research institutions in science, technology and innovation so that we can expand new businesses and to make the lives of our people better," said Emmanuel Mutisya, professor and council chairman of the Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Kenya-AIST).
While Africa benefits from Chinese investment and expertise, the continent's growing middle class and young workforce present new opportunities for Chinese businesses.
The China-Africa People's Forum, established in 2011, serves as a major platform for fostering non-governmental exchanges between China and African countries.
7th China-Africa People's Forum wraps up in Hunan
China’s first intelligent field plant phenotype precision identification platform went into operation recently in Sanya City, south China’s Hainan Province, which is a milestone in the country’s development of intelligent breeding.
The phenotype of a plant is a term used to describe observable characteristics of the plant, such as its appearance, and some inherent physiological characteristics, such as resistance to drought and diseases.
In an experimental field of the National Nanfan Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, a large piece of equipment is moving across the field. The equipment, called the field plant phenotype precision identification platform, can move according to the preset track and can be remotely controlled. While moving, the equipment can scan the plants with its six sensors, just like a CT machine for plants.
"The ultimate goal is to achieve high-throughput, large-scale, efficient and precise collection of germplasm resources, which can be four to five times higher than the efficiency of the traditional manual collection," said Jin Xiuliang, a researcher at the institute.
Although the equipment looks simple from the outside, it contains six high-precision image acquisition devices such as multi-spectral, thermal infrared, and chlorophyll fluorescence devices. Data can be collected at fixed times and points according to experimental needs, and the collection of a germplasm material can be completed within 30 seconds.
After the data collected through this platform is transmitted to the data analysis center, researchers can more quickly and accurately screen out germplasm resources with excellent traits, laying the foundation for subsequent crop breeding.
"The plant phenotype identification facility at the National Nanfan Research Institute is a milestone in the field of crop science in China. It can greatly enhance the independent innovation capabilities of germplasm innovation, gene mining, and variety breeding, and enhance the international competitiveness of China's seed industry," said Li Huihui, vice president of the institute.
China makes major progress in smart crop breeding
