Africa's
agricultural sector stands to gain more from China's deepening economic
diversification, through greater demand for produce to propel its rapid
industrialisation, experts say.
"China's
economic transition will be a plus for the whole world, as it will make
China a large importer of goods and services from the rest of the
world," said Munene Macharia, an international relations expert at the
United States International University, based in Nairobi
While
China strives for a more efficient, balanced and sustainable economic
growth and industrialization model, the rest of the world would do well
to prepare to reap from China's gains, the professor told Xinhua in an
interview. "Africa can also position itself to become the world's factory once China moves to value addition and inventions," he said.
China,
long accused of lacking the industrial muscle to produce high quality
industrial goods and services, has diversified its economy to focus on
new growth frontiers, especially on domestic and new international
markets.
Moreover,
Beijing is also focusing on environmental conservation, through a
strategic focus on the green economic model. Macharia said Africa was a
key point of focus for China at a time when Europe and the US, its
biggest consumers and trade partners, were facing economic crises.
"The Chinese government should pay close attention to the green economy because it holds the greatest promise," he said.
"This
is the right time for China to change to a green economy because it is
still a developing country," Munene said, "The clean-up costs are less
compared to those mature and already industrialized countries in the
West." (Xinhua), "Goods and services from the green economy would easily find a market both domestically and internationally," he said.
The
green economic growth model de-emphasizes huge investments in fossil
fuels and nuclear energy in favor of more sustainable sources of power,
including solar, wind power and geothermal resources to power industrial
production.
"Transition to a green economy has huge initial costs but the returns are tremendous," the expert said.
Munene
warned that, while the resolve to move China to a new economic growth
model was gaining ground, dealing with weak global demand for goods and
services as a result of the eurozone debt crisis also created strains.
China
faced an uphill task moving its production platforms to focus on
invention, research and innovation, a factor that would then allow it to
usher in new frontiers of production, he said.
A
smooth transition for China was to move completely from being the
factory for inventions to being the originator, which would in turn help
Beijing to earn new revenue sources, the expert said.
Story by Erasto Malila
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