People visit the fifth Global Digital Trade Expo (GDTE) in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 24, 2026. (Xinhua/Jiang Han)

HANGZHOU, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- As the digital economy accelerates, artificial intelligence (AI) has become a new growth driver for China-Africa economic and trade cooperation, driven by expanding practical applications, according to a new report.

Titled China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation: Progress and Outlook 2026, the report was unveiled at the ongoing fifth Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou, the capital of east China's Zhejiang Province.

The expo, an event dedicated to promoting digital trade and industrial cooperation, is being held from Sept. 23 to 27. This year, the number of its overseas pavilions has already exceeded the combined total of all previous editions.

The application of AI is shifting from a future option to a real agenda in China-Africa cooperation, the report found. This shift is characterized by strong application-scenario drives. Cooperation has expanded into areas such as disaster prevention, healthcare, smart agriculture and urban governance.

"Increasingly, it will require digital infrastructure that enables African businesses to compete in a rapidly changing global economy," said Klaus-Dieter Kaempfer, chief executive of Absa China, noting that digital trade has the potential to lower barriers to entry, connect businesses to new markets and enable entrepreneurs to participate in global commerce regardless of geography.

Alhaji Sarjoh Bah, permanent representative of the African Union to China, called for deeper cooperation in five areas: trade facilitation and cross-border e-commerce; interoperable payments; trusted data governance, cybersecurity and dispute prevention; digital intelligence and industrial parks for value addition; and people-to-people exchanges and digital talent.

Bah called for linking Chinese digital trade industrial parks with African special economic zones and industrial parks, and combining cloud computing, data centers, smart logistics and AI with manufacturing and processing.

"Africa seeks to move from exporting raw minerals to producing processed goods. It seeks equally to move from generating raw data to producing processed intelligence," said Bah, stressing the need for local content, skills development and technology transfer, and building AI systems that reflect African languages and realities.

Concrete cooperation projects are already underway. A highlight of the event was the promotion of the "Mazu" intelligent weather warning system. Designed to meet Africa's needs for meteorological disaster prevention, the system has been deployed in Ethiopia and Djibouti, offering targeted services.

The deepening digital ties mirror the robust growth in China-Africa trade. In 2025, China-Africa trade grew by 17.7 percent year on year to reach 348 billion U.S. dollars. On May 1, China fully implemented a zero-tariff treatment for 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic relations.

China's digitally deliverable service trade value expanded at an average annual rate of 11.2 percent between 2016 and 2025, outpacing the global average by 1.8 percentage points.