The first senior executive seminar for Chinese enterprises going to Africa was launched on Wednesday in Beijing. The meeting is expected to provide intelligence inputs for companies planning to shift manufacturing there.

Justin Yifu Lin, former World Bank vice-president and an economics professor at Peking University, said the African continent hol

He noted that the accommodation of the world's labor-intensive industries transformed China from an agricultural economy into "the world's plant". But China's labor-intensive businesses were losing competitive edge in recent years owing to rising labor costs and so on.

Zheng Yuewen, chairman of the China-Africa Business Council, said the African continent is eager to receive the relocation of China's industrial productivity, which is at overcapacity at home.

Meanwhile, the continent is also "an ideal bridgehead" for Chinese products to enter the European and American markets owing to the preference of low tariffs or duty free, Zheng said.

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