China will fully implement the China-Africa quality enhancement program, aiming to improve Africa's infrastructure capacities and facilitate agricultural trade cooperation, said the country's top market watchdog on Saturday.
The program was announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing on Sept 5, as part of 10 partnership actions to deepen China-Africa cooperation and spearhead the Global South modernization.
The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) held a press conference in Beijing on Saturday to brief on the progress of the program and the construction of standardized agriculture demonstration areas in Africa.
"The China-Africa quality enhancement program aims to carry out assistance and cooperation with Africa in the fields of metrology, standards, certification and accreditation to improve the quality infrastructure of African countries, strengthen the alignment of quality management and standards between China and Africa, and enhance the compatibility of market rules and regulations, so as to effectively reduce the institutional transaction costs of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation," said Pu Chun, deputy director of the SAMR.
The administration said it has begun to implement Chinese standards in Zambia for bulk food and cash crops including wheat, corn, pepper and marigold.
"We will implement 'small and beautiful' projects in food security, food safety, clean energy, and capacity building to help Africa improve farming and food testing as well as generate cleaner energy so as to achieve a higher level of development. We will explore ways to work with African countries on developing technical standards, building testing laboratories, and strengthening product traceability," said Liu Jiannan, head of the International Department of the SAMR.
China to fully implement China-Africa quality enhancement program: official
