Cover Story
At the inaugural Africa investment summit in Hong Kong 18 months ago, fund managers in Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland were given a rundown on the blossoming opportunities in the continent.
Two years ago, China and Kenya opened a path to enable a major bourse on the Chinese mainland to successfully collaborate with the African country's growing exchange.
China's search for minerals in Africa is increasingly extending to companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Over the past decade, Chinese companies have become major investors in Africa, with key interests in energy, mining, construction and manufacturing.
Something new is happening in Africa. Unlike in the past, when commodities largely fueled the continent's performance, now consumer spending by a rapidly expanding and urbanizing middle class is driving wealth, productivity and progressive cultural change.
Is China's trading relationship with Africa about to change? The economic relationship between the world's second-largest economy and the continent has been defined as a "resources play".
The UK with its service-sector dominant economy could benefit as China moves away from its old manufacturing and export model, according to a new report.
Trade in commodities has been the dominant feature of China-Africa relations over the past 20 years, but many traders, particularly those who arrived in Africa early, are now well aware that there must be more to the relationship than that.
The core of the "One Belt and One Road" initiative, the creation of a Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, is infrastructure construction. China should also include Africa in the initiative and encourage the transfer of its labor-intensive industries to Africa.
There is do doubt that Africa, home to six of the world's fastest-growing economies, has changed rapidly over the past few years.
When Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was in Africa in May of last year he enthusiastically spoke about how China and Africa could work together on high-speed railways, highways and aviation.
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