China Africa First FTA Provides New Opportunities For Sino African Economic And Trade Cooperation

China and Mauritius formally signed the free trade agreement on the 17 day. This is the first FTA between China and African countries. This agreement will provide a strong institutional guarantee for deepening China Mauritius economic and trade relations, inject new connotation into China Africa comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation, and provide new opportunities for China Africa economic and trade cooperation.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Mao, bilateral friendly and cooperative relations have developed smoothly, and economic and technological cooperation and economic and trade exchanges have continued to develop. China is Mauritius's second largest trading partner and largest source of imports. In 2018, bilateral trade volume reached 842 million US dollars, an increase of 7.29% over the previous year.

The China Mauritius FTA negotiations were officially launched in December 2017, and the negotiations were officially concluded in September 2, 2018. The agreement covers trade in goods, trade in services, investment and economic cooperation. In the field of trade of goods, China and Mauritius achieved 96.3% and 94.2% of the zero tariff products tax respectively. In the field of service trade, the two sides promised to open more than 100 sectors. This is the highest level of free trade agreement in Mauritius so far in the field of service.

Dr. Huang Yupei, a Sino African International Business School at Zhejiang Normal University, believes that the signing of the Sino Mao FTA will help Mauritius achieve its economic take-off. The agreement is also conducive to further strengthening the "one belt and one way" initiative and the African Union's agenda for 2063, so as to promote the "common destiny" of the two sides and the "win-win community of interests".

Sun Hong, an assistant researcher at the Institute of African Studies of the China Institute of modern international relations, said that many African countries were stepping up their efforts to sign relevant trade agreements with African countries after the launch of the African free trade zone. The signing of the Sino Mao free trade agreement coincided with the accumulation of experience for China's subsequent signing of the FTA with other African countries.

In July 2019, the twelfth African Union FTA special summit officially announced the establishment of the African continent free trade area. At present, the African continent free trade area is accelerating construction, and it is finally expected to form a large market covering 1 billion 200 million people and gross domestic product totaling 2 trillion and 500 billion US dollars. China Africa FTA will help further promote integration in Africa.

The economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa is deepening and has broad prospects. Since the 9 Beijing summit of China Africa Cooperation Forum held in 2018, China Africa economic and trade cooperation has achieved a series of achievements in a comprehensive, multi-level and wide-ranging field. China has been Africa's largest trading partner for ten years in a row. In 2018, trade between China and Africa amounted to US $204 billion 200 million, an increase of 20% over the previous year.