CHINA AFRICA UK INVESTMENT FORUM Provisional Programme HANGZHOU, CHINA 25-27 APRIL 2018
BACKGROUND Much of Africa has experienced sustained high economic growth in the past decade. Yet there remains considerable potential and need for continued structural transformation from low to high productivity activities, and for increased value addition along value chains with high potential for exports and job creation. China has emerged as a leading trading partner for many African countries, and Africa-China trade has been growing at about 20% per year since 2000. China s foreign direct investment to Africa has grown even faster over the past decade with a breakneck annual growth rate of 40%. The large majority of these investments have, however, been directed to the infrastructure and commodity sectors, and there remains significant potential in other sectors of the economy. Africa is now looking to partner with Chinese firms to increase value addition in agro-processing and light manufacturing value chains which offer major opportunities for high returns on investment and trade. In line with its Belt and Road Initiative, China is also increasingly emphasizing the wider development dimension in its investments on the continent. Increased investment and trade between Africa and China has the potential to create jobs, transfer skills and boost consumption and growth for the benefit of all stakeholders. With the right policy frameworks and governance, investment and trade can lead to inclusive growth that develops value chains with strong participation by SMEs that move-up the value chain and diversify their product offerings. The human capital base will also benefit from the transfer of knowledge and skills that comes with insertion into global value chains. The Partnership for Investment and Growth in Africa (PIGA) project encourages and facilitates Chinese investment in the agro-processing and light manufacturing sectors in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique and Zambia. Its aims to support these countries to grow their current share of global manufacturing activity and to create productive jobs. Under PIGA, China, African countries and the UK hope to strengthen cooperation and generate useful learning on the relationship between trade, investment and development assistance, with a specific focus on SMEs. The China Africa UK Investment Forum will look at the opportunities and needs for catalyzing sustainable investment and trade from China to develop agro-processing and light manufacturing value chains in Africa, as a means to drive export expansion, economic growth and job creation. Discussions will focus particularly on Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique and Zambia. The Forum will bring together High-level decision-makers, academia, representatives from businesses, governments, and trade and investment support institutions from Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Zambia, China and the UK. 3
PROGRAMME April 25 Opening ceremony 15:30-16:30 Registration 16:30-18:00 OPENING CEREMONY OF THE FORUM Background: Investment and trade links between Africa and China have developed rapidly in the last decade but are still at an early stage and there is huge potential to be explored. The cooperation between Africa, China and the UK, with support from the ITC, creates pathways and platforms for the systematic expansion of investment and trade activities. The opening ceremony will highlight the important policies and programmes that underpin the PIGA programme. 18:30-20:00 Welcome Reception PROGRAMME April 26 - Forum 09:00-10:30 PLENARY SESSION 1 Title: Africa-China-UK Cooperation for Increased Trade and Investment as Drivers of Inclusive Growth Background: China has become Africa s leading partner for trade and investment and the challenge now is to create strategies and structures to ensure that it achieves the objectives of job creation, skill and technology transfer, product and market diversification, SME development, increased exports and inclusive growth. Items for discussion: How specific public and private actors in the UK, China and Africa can expand investment and trade activities and contribute to their development impact. Which examples of collaboration on investment and trade can we build on? How can we ensure that the pioneering work done in the project is consolidated and continued in the longer term? How do we address the need for industrial infra- 4
structure (Industrial parks, transport, logistics, energy, water and waste treatment) together with investment and trade promotion? How do we ensure the participation of SMEs and the development of linkages into the local economy? 10:30-11:00 Coffee break 11:00-12:30 PLENARY SESSION 2 Title: Investing in Africa: Driving the Shift from Commodities to consumer Goods through Strategic Investment Promotion Background: Investment and trade links have concentrated on commodities to date, and the manufacture of value added consumer goods offers huge opportunities for growth. The agro-food and light manufacturing sectors are labour and material intensive and Africa has abundant reserves of both working age population and raw materials. In today s global market however, it takes more than factor endowments to attract investment and trade. It requires strategic incentives, specialization and differentiation to secure the right companies. This is the only way to build an investment portfolio with backward and forward linkages that foster broad-based and inclusive growth. Items for discussions: Which are the emerging sectors that should be targeted? Where are the sweet spots where raw materials, abundant labour, infrastructure and markets come together to favour investment and trade? Next generation incentives - financial or fiscal? Constraints - a dirty word or an opportunity for investors? Logistics - the key to unlocking Africa s trade potential? 12:30-14:00 NETWORKING LUNCH 14:00-15:30 PLENARY SESSION 3 Title: Global Value Chains: The Highway to Investment and Trade Background: The vast majority of global trade goes through value chains today. Those chains are buyer-driven and populated by manufacturers that are looking for new production platforms that offer competitive access to materials and human resources. The more complete, compact and connected a value chain is, the more competitive it is. There is massive potential for African countries and Chinese investors and traders to develop value chains and, by doing so, boost manufacturing employment and exports. Items for discussions: National and regional value chains: where are the gaps and opportunities? How to upgrade value chains with Chinese experience, expertise 5
and technology? How to enable SMEs to participate in global value chains so that they move-up the value ladder and diversify their product offerings? Speed-tomarket: how to leverage Africa s access and proximity to markets? 15:30-16:00 Coffee Break 16:00-17:30 PLENARY SESSION 4 Title: Africa as a Market and as an Export Platform Background: The shortage of market research in many African countries means that the market is not well defined. As a result potential trade and investment partners in China do not have sufficient data to identify and evaluate market opportunities. The same applies to the potential for Africa to act as a springboard for insertion into global value chains. Potential investors are challenged by the paucity of data, infrastructure and services to support investment. Host governments in Africa need to strengthen their facilitation services and the availability of key market data to enable Chinese partners to evaluate and plan trade and investment projects. They also need to establish industrial parks, Export Processing Zones and Free Trade Zones to provide competitive platforms for investors and exporters. Items for discussions: Which policy frameworks and implementation mechanisms promote investment and trade that leads to strengthened value chains and inclusive growth? How can SME participation in global value chains be facilitated so that they move-up the value ladder and diversify their product offerings? What can governments do to create a competitive investment climate for the private sector and how can they facilitate the entry and expansion of investment? How can backward and forward linkages between foreign investors and local suppliers be promoted? What do African Government s need to do in order to maximise the benefits from China s long term plan for Africa? What can African countries learn from China s experience with Special Economic Zones and Free Trade Zones? 17:30-18:00 CLOSING PLENARY 18:00-20:00 Networking Dinner 6
PROGRAMME April 27 - Business-to-Business matchmaking event 08:30-09:00 REGISTRATION & DISTRIBUTION OF B2B APPOINTMENT SCHEDULES The B2B event builds direct business linkages between companies from Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Zambia, China and the UK within the agro-processing and light manufacturing sectors. The B2B event brings together a strategic selection of companies based on the criteria developed by PIGA in collaboration with its partners. Those include the role of investment and trade in promoting employment, exports, foreign exchange generation, skill and technology transfer and inclusive growth. The Chinese and UK companies invited to participate will be those whose investment or trading activities would advance those objectives. Similarly, the African companies will be those whose position in the global value chain makes them potential business partners or suppliers for Chinese or UK companies. The business relationships to be explored for the UK companies includes distribution of services (such as accounting, consulting, testing, certification and investment advice). Companies are required to complete the profile form before the event, on which basis the matching of business interests between companies will done in order to pre-arrange effective business meetings. 9:00-12:30 BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MATCHMAKING EVENT 12:30-13:30 NETWORKING LUNCH 13:30-18:00 FIELD VISIT FOR AFRICAN PARTICIPANTS 7