According to the Information Office of the People’s Government of Hunan Province which made the disclosure, the signed deals were part of a total of 569 projects that were proposed.

Both the volume and value of signed projects exceeded those of last year when the first CAETE held, and it also registered a more balanced structure and a more diverse funding sources.

The Expo galvanized the strengths of stakeholders in both China and Africa to jointly promote the high-quality development of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation.

Nearly 500 Chinese and African trading businesses carried out consultations and matchmaking before and during the Expo, according to organisers, who say the online Expo has accelerated the digitization process.

The Expo created a “cloud conference, cloud exhibition, and cloud transaction” model, and for the “cloud conference”, the real-time streaming of the opening ceremony was directly transmitted to Africa for the first time, with 9.81 million views.

For the “cloud exhibition”, the merchandise exhibition had 10.68 million views, providing exhibition and presentation, matchmaking, and online negotiations for both parties.

In terms of “cloud trading”, the “China-Africa Online Shopping Festival”, set up based on well-known e-commerce platforms in Africa, witnessed over 900 million page views and a transaction volume exceeding 250 million CNY.

“Holding the expo via a marketization model has made a breakthrough. The expo started market-oriented exploration. The Sany Group has become its chief strategic partner, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Bank of Changsha have become financial service strategic partners. Through the market-oriented approaches, the expo has explored a sustainable development way, and the enterprises enhanced their brand value and market influence, realizing a new win-win situation,” said the Information Office of the People’s Government of Hunan Province.