Published on: 2026-05-22
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –
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Beijing, May 22 /Xinhua/ — China will continue to sign agreements on economic partnership in order to jointly develop with African countries and will establish institutional guarantees for economic cooperation to ensure the consistent and effective implementation of the zero-tariff policy. This was announced on Friday by the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, Gao Zeyang.
Guo Ziyang made an appropriate statement at a regular briefing for journalists in response to a request to comment on the current state of implementation of China’s introduced zero-tariff regime for 53 African countries that have diplomatic relations with the PRC.
According to an official representative, China is the first major economy to unilaterally introduce zero customs duties for all African countries, supporting diplomatic relations with them. The Chinese diplomat noted that at midnight on May 1, 24 tons of South African apples became the first batch of goods imported into China under the aforementioned policy.
As stated by Go Cziakun, in just over 20 days since the zero-tariff regime came into effect, numerous batches of goods from Africa have passed customs clearance at various ports and have been freely admitted into China, including avocados from Kenya, fresh citrus fruits from Egypt, gypsum from Morocco, bull bone meal from Nigeria, as well as wine and pharmaceutical raw materials from the Republic of South Africa.
He stated that zero customs duties have not only enriched the offering in the Chinese market and reduced the cost of trade between China and Africa, but also significantly strengthened the trust of African producers and suppliers.
An official representative added that the zero customs duty policy is not a separate tax measure, but part of a broader package of coordinated auxiliary measures. China has modernized “green corridors” for the import of African agricultural and food products, simplified quarantine inspection procedures, and introduced measures to simplify procedures, such as differentiated management based on risk assessment, emphasized Guo Zhiqun. –0–
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