China Africa Business Forum held in Joburg

Johannesburg, (People's Daily Online) — “Chinese enterprises are going global, as well as paying more attention to the African market,” noted Counsellor Rong Yansong from the Chinese Embassy in South Africa in his opening speech for China Africa Business Forum 2014 held in Henley Business School, Johannesburg, last Thursday.

The one-day forum is a high-level conference held by Frontier Advisory annually in Johannesburg, bringing together leading decision-makers from Chinese and African companies. Some of the country’s great minds attended the Forum this year, among them are Martin Habel (Principal Financial Officer from International Finace Corporation), Dr. Michael Power(Strategist from Investec), Peter Wonacott (Africa Bureau Chief from the Wall Street Journal), Dr Martyn Davies (Chief Executive Officer from Frontier Advisory), Dr. Li Feng (Executive Vice President from Bank of China Johannesburg Branch) etc.

The leading thought-leaders and practitioners gave their insights on a variety of topics regarding China-Africa commerce through presentation, panel discussion, interactive dialogue, and Q&A session.

China is now the single largest trading partner of Africa, the largest financier of infrastructure through its “policy-banks” and is the largest lender to African governments. As Frontier Advisory pointed out, African states and companies now have to come to terms with both the enabling and disruptive nature of Chinese capital.