China y África

Chinese and African leaders have finished a two-day meeting aimed at improving cooperation between countries that represent more than one third of the world's population. The meeting was held in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

This report from Mark Doyle:

If you visit almost any marketplace in Africa, many of the consumer goods on sale - from buckets to razor blades to hurricane lamps - are likely to be Chinese. In a very large number of African capitals, the main football stadium is likely to have been built with Chinese aid money.

Sino-African trade - and aid - is large and growing. Some estimates put it as high as twelve billion dollars a year. Although direct comparisons are difficult, the links between the world's largest developing country, China, and the world's largest developing continent could grow to challenge the post-colonial links between Europe and Africa. The meeting in Addis Ababa has heard Chinese promises to cancel debts, grant duty-free access into China for African products and increase Chinese investments in Africa. President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe used the meeting to praise China and attack the west. But political links and so-called 'South South Cooperation' are only one aspect of the Addis meeting. Chinese and African businessmen used the meeting to network among each other to place more Chinese goods on stalls in African marketplaces. Mark Doyle, World Affairs Correspondent, BBC World Service

consumer goods
productos

hurricane lamps
lámparas de parafina, en las cuales la llama está protegida por una pantalla de vidrio (para protegerla de los vientos)

Sino-African trade
comercio entre China y África

to challenge
competir

post-colonial
después de la época de la colonia

grant
dar, permitir

duty-free access
el ingreso de bienes de un país a otro sin pagar impuestos

so-called
denominado, presunto, llamado

aspect
aspecto

to network
establecer contanctos con gente involucrada en el mismo rubro