Washington, DC — Author of China/Africa: the Dragon and Ostrich, Mr Adama Gaye, yesterday said trade level between China and Africa has gradually increased from $10 billion in 2000, to an estimated $55 billion.

Gaye said the Chinese government hopes to hit the $100 billion mark before 2010, making it the most important foreign actor on the continent. Also, Nigeria is among five African countries where China hopes to set up commercial centres that will become the offshore base for its commercial activities on the continent.

Others are Zambia in the South, Tanzania in the East, Egypt in the North and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Delivering a lecture at the African Studies Department of the School of Advanced and International Studies, John Hopkins University, Gaye said the increased level of trade underscores Africa's growing importance to China, particularly countries like Nigeria and South Africa.

He said the commercial centres are a replication of the specialeconomic zones set up in China during the early 1980s, when the country embarked on economic reforms. These centres will increase trade level within the continent, as Africans would no longer need to travel to China to do business, Gaye said.

Gaye said the Chinese are making a foray into the financial sector too, adding that in 2007, China Development Bank, which has an estimated asset of $440 billion entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Bank for Africa (UBA), evaluated at $5 billion.