Founding ceremony of the Yiwu Sino-African Chamber of Commerce in Yiwu, Zhejiang province on Jan 8 [Photo/zgyww.cn]

The Yiwu Sino-African Chamber of Commerce was founded in Yiwu, a county-level city in East China's Zhejiang province on Jan 8 to support the city's increased economic ties with African countries.

The chamber, with 141 initial members, will integrate resources, analyze markets, formulate standards, and function as a bridge between Chinese and African entrepreneurs.

Its establishment was initiated by the municipal commerce bureau of Yiwu and organized by the nongovernmental Sino-African chamber of commerce in Yiwu.

Yiwu has enjoyed increasingly frequent trade with Africa in recent years, and the continent has become one of its most important export destinations.

The city is doing its bit in drawing China and Africa together.

Statistics from Yiwu customs show that Yiwu's trade with Africa totaled 50.26 billion yuan ($7.12 billion) in the first three quarters of 2019, up 10.6 percent year-on-year and accounting for 23.2 percent of the city's total foreign trade during the period.

According to the local commerce authorities, from January to November, 2019, the city's exports to Africa were valued at 61.45 billion yuan, up 12.69 percent year-on-year, and the imports from Africa were valued at 500 million yuan, up 378.14 percent year-on-year.

Yiwu also boasts one of the largest concentrations of Africans in China, indeed the second-largest after Guangzhou.

African communities in Yiwu enjoy cordial relations with the local authorities and are often consulted about how to improve their conditions and how they can, in turn, help run Yiwu as an international business city.

African businesses can choose according to their own needs among a variety of commodities, and then ship them back to Africa using Yiwu's logistics and maritime services. As of October 2019, more than 5,000 African products are being sold in the Yiwu China Imported Commodities Mall.