China to facilitate quality African food, agricultural imports: spokesperson

BEIJING -- China will support and facilitate the entry of more high-quality and distinctive African agricultural and food products into the Chinese market, bringing more tangible benefits to the Chinese and African people, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a regular news briefing in response to a query on the measures China will take to facilitate the import of agricultural and food products from African countries.

The Chinese government attaches importance to strengthening agricultural cooperation with Africa and actively promotes the import of agricultural products from Africa, Wang noted, adding that China is the second largest destination for African agricultural exports.

In recent years, the average growth rate of African agricultural exports to China has reached 11.4 percent. In 2021, African agricultural exports to China increased by 18.23 percent year-on-year.

At the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in November last year, China announced the establishment of a "green channel" for African countries' agricultural products entering China, Wang said.

Wang said the General Administration of Customs formulated and actively implemented several practical measures to facilitate access for such products.

First, the applications of agricultural products from African countries for entry into China are to be considered on a priority basis. After receiving relevant technical data, risk analysis is to be immediately started to accelerate the quarantine work needed for gaining access.

Second, for some agricultural products from the same country with similar processing technologies, or the same agricultural products from different countries, on the premise of controllable risks, the risk assessments will be carried out in a combined manner, thereby speeding up the entry process.

Third, China will facilitate the registration of African enterprises that have been approved for the import of agricultural products, adopting flexible methods such as video inspection or document review to speed up the assessment and registration process.

With the joint efforts of both sides, the trade in agricultural and food products between China and Africa will prosper and develop, he added.