The South Africa-China Economic and Trade Association (SACETA) and Africa Oil & Power (AOP) have entered a new partnership that will introduce Chinese technology, finance and know-how to a range of African projects, and build critical new commercial links within the private and public sectors.
The partnership agreement, signed today, sees Africa’s leading energy event organizer join hands with China’s top trade and investment association in South Africa. AOP looks forward to welcoming Chinese delegations to its events later in 2020, including conferences in Angola, South Africa, South Sudan and Senegal, and to facilitating profitable partnerships between Chinese enterprises and African companies and governments.
“China’s impact on the African energy sector has been tremendous, but there is so much room still to grow in electrification, energy infrastructure building, and project financing,” says AOP Acting CEO James Chester. “This partnership expands the AOP community with the aim of bringing meaningful investment into African projects.”
“SACETA has more than 160 Chinese member companies based in South Africa in the sectors of energy, finance, infrastructure, mining, ICT and more,” notes Wenan Wang, Chairman of SACETA. “The partnership signed will to some extent help bring more investment to the African energy sector and gradually solve the problem of power shortages on the continent.”
Economic activity is rebounding in China, and as the country recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is now reaching out to African and global partners to assist in their fight against the virus. With oil, gas and power being central to China’s One Belt One Road initiative and African countries embracing Chinese investment, AOP’s events will be an important meeting place and venue for deal-making and strategic discussion on the current state and the future of Africa-China energy relations.
AOP will aim to provide dedicated exhibition space for Chinese companies at all its 2020 events, set up bilateral meetings between government and private sector and between companies, facilitate deals between African and Chinese firms, and its conferences will act as a gateway into African markets for Chinese firms and authorities with a strategic interest in African growth opportunities.
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