With the long history between China and Africa politically, culturally and in the area of trade, Chinese business people are turning to the continent in ever increasing numbers to find opportunity in what is becoming a mutually beneficial embrace.

Recently, Executive President of the World Chinese Entrepreneurs General Association (WCEGA) Liao Junqiao spoke to Beijing Review about the Chinese business community's roles in Sino-African cooperation in various fields.

Beijing Review: How do you sum up the evolution of Chinese business people's development in Africa?

LIAO JUNQIAO: I think Chinese business people's development in Africa can be divided into four stages.

The first stage happened before the founding of the People's Republic of China, when some Chinese people in the coastal regions, especially Hong Kong, went to Africa by sea to look for business opportunities, and later they settled there. These families now are second and third generation African Chinese. The second stage is from the founding of the People's Republic of China to the late 1970s. During this stage, some Chinese were assigned to assist with the construction of African countries. These are also second and third generation families.

After China opened to the outside world in the late 1970s, more Chinese went to Africa through trade and investment cooperation. This is the third stage, which ended with the close of the 20th century.

During the first six years of the 21st century, Sino-African economic cooperation deepened and many Chinese enterprises, including state-owned enterprises and private enterprises, launched cooperation with African countries in various sectors. An aspect of this cooperation was that some Chinese emigrants married local people, forming the fourth stage of this development.

Did they encounter any difficulties during their integration into African business life?

Yes, Chinese business people do encounter some difficulties. First, some African countries reshuffle their governments quickly, leading a state of instability, insecurity and inconvenience for common people. Frequent government changes also lead to the frequent changes of commercial policies in these countries, giving greater risks to business operations there.

The overall level of development in Africa is comparatively low and some hi-tech projects cannot be implemented quickly. Meanwhile, owing to the relatively weaker financial systems, payments are not regular.

Other difficulties include comparatively lower national consumption levels and insecure social and health environments in some regions, which frequently lead to outbreak of diseases.

What will WCEGA do to support cooperation between China and African countries?

We can help in implementing the cooperative agreements in diplomatic, cultural, economic, trade and health care sectors signed by China and African nations and in promoting effective cooperation between enterprises on both sides. At the same time, we support and guide African nations to establish branches of the WCEGA in their own countries.

We also encourage and recommend the leaders of the Chinese business communities to become honorary consulates and commercial commissioners of African countries to other countries. Using their resources and capabilities, African countries can find more business opportunities in the international market. We will establish a complete industrial chain to guide Chinese business people worldwide to invest in Africa.

We also plan to launch a series of projects to boost education and cultural cooperation between China and Africa, such as financially supporting their education development, assisting African students to study abroad, and holding a series cultural exchanges.

WCEGA encourages successful Chinese business people to participate in political, economic and diplomatic developments of their residence countries.