China promises to make quality products for Africa

Buenos Aires

Chinese vice minister for commerce Wang Shouwen has said Uganda and other African countries can expect better products from China corresponding to the rise in standards of living in Africa.

Mr Wang was speaking on Wednesday to journalists in Buenos Aires, at the sidelines of the on-going 11th World Trade Organisation Ministerial Conference.

“Trade is voluntary. No Chinese manufacturer forces its products on African importers. What happens is that African importers order for what they can afford which often may not be superior quality products,” Mr Wang said.

He added: “This phenomenon also happened in China about 30 years ago when inferior Chinese products were sold in the local Chinese market, while superior quality products were sold abroad. But Chinese have now become wealthier and can afford higher quality products.”

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Better quality
He noted that he was upbeat that China would export better quality products to Africa corresponding to the growth of wealth and purchasing power in Africa.
Responding to the questions about bad image of Chinese companies operating in Africa, Mr Wang said Chinese companies were subject to laws in host countries and should be penalised for wrong doing, upon conviction.
“China is concerned about its image abroad and we do not support the activities of wayward companies,” he said.

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While announcing Chinese assistance to the least developed countries at the conference, Mr Wang said the recently concluded 19th National Congress of the Communist Part of China reaffirmed China’s commitment to assist least developed countries reduce the North South development gap.

-From the Daily Monitor