Africa, Zobia, the capital of Cerril.

This is the starting point of the "Seril-Gabe Railway", and the end point of the railway is in the Kandai Port of Gabe, a large seaport facing the Indian Ocean. It was expanded two years ago by China and can dock with giant bulk carriers of 300,000 tons.

Ceril is an inland country with rich mineral resources and a population of 20 million. However, due to inconvenient transportation, its minerals are difficult to export and industry cannot develop, so it has always been one of the poorest countries in Africa. Starting 10 years ago, the Chinese government signed an agreement with the Ceril government to help it build the Seychelles Railway, which was supported by the Chinese government, and sent a engineering team to implement the construction project.

The construction of the Sega Railway encountered many unexpected difficulties, but it was finally completed successfully. After the completion of the Sega Railway, the Seil connected Seril with the Kandai Port in the country of Gabe. Seril's minerals and agricultural products could be transported smoothly to the Kandai Port and sold to all parts of the world. At the same time, daily consumer goods, industrial equipment, etc. from all over the world can also be transported in through railways, helping Seril get out of poverty and enter the industrial era.

Today, it is the time for the opening ceremony of the Seyca Railway. Representatives from African countries and China gather at Zobiya Station to prepare to cut the ribbon for the first passenger train on the Seyca Railway that will be dispatched.

On the platform No. 1 of Zobiya Station, colorful flags fluttered, and cheerful dance music played in the loudspeaker, including the extremely authentic Chinese folk music such as "Golden Snake Dance". There is no way. During the construction of the railway, the officials and engineers of Ceril and the workers were already accustomed to the music in the camp of the Chinese Engineering Company. They firmly believe that these music are related to the railway. Listening to such music, people can imagine the romantic style of the train passing through the wilderness.

On the temporary rostrum, there were presidents, speakers, ministers and other officials from African countries, as well as some officials from African multinational organizations. On the other hand, there were representatives from China, including several department-level officials from China State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce, and several leaders of China Railway Corporation. Among them, sitting in the chief position of the Chinese representative is Feng Xiaochen, president of the China-Africa Industrial Technology Cooperation Association.

The Serill official, who was responsible for arranging seats at the celebration, did not take the Chinese official with the title of association president seriously at the beginning, and arranged Feng Xiaochen's position at the lower head of the deputy general manager of a branch of China Railway Company. Unexpectedly, after the arrival of the Chinese delegation, they all looked panic when they saw this arrangement, and moved Feng Xiaochen's seat sign one by one in the direction of the upper head, and finally moved to the front of everyone.

Cerille officials were unaware of this, but when he reported this situation to Franken, Vice President Franken, who presided over the celebration, Franken immediately scolded him, and then trotted over to chat with Feng Xiaochen. As early as more than ten years ago, Franken knew Feng Xiaochen when he was Serille's Minister of Industry. Over the years, Cerille's cooperation with China Equipment Industry Company has not been interrupted. Franken knew in his heart that Feng Xiaochen's contribution was far above anyone else.

"Mr. Feng, what happened just now was a serious mistake. After the celebration, I will hold the person involved accountable and I will definitely give you a satisfactory explanation." Franken took Feng Xiaochen's hand and said apologetically.

Feng Xiaochen smiled and said, "Mr. Franken is so serious, it is not worth mentioning to rank a seat. In fact, these colleagues of mine are the biggest contributors of the Seyca Railway, and they should be allowed to sit in the upper seat."

Franken nodded: "Yes, yes, I am very grateful to the leaders and employees of China's construction units. If possible, I hope they can all sit in the most eye-catching position. However, Mr. Feng, you have also devoted a lot of effort to the Seyca Railway. If it weren't for you to mediate it, it would be difficult for the Seyca Railway to obtain support from the Chinese Investment Bank so quickly. Therefore, the most important position should be for you to sit."

Feng Xiaochen said: "Thank you Mr. Franken for your kindness. Today you are the protagonist, so you don't have to waste too much time with me. When the celebration is over, let's arrange time to reminisce about the past."

"Okay, OK!" Franken said. At this time, the staff led a middle-aged black man with extraordinary demeanor. Franken warmly greeted the man to sit down next to Feng Xiaochen, and then introduced them to each other.

"Mr. Feng, please allow me to introduce you to Mr. Lamuru, the rotating chairman of the African Union Executive Council, who made a request to us in advance and hoped to sit with you." Franken said.

"It turned out to be Mr. Lamuru, who has long been admired."

Feng Xiaochen quickly reached out to shake hands with the other party. Lamulu was also extremely enthusiastic about Feng Xiaochen, and the handshake was very strong. It was also a blessing for Feng Xiaochen to go to the grassroots level often, he was in good health and had a lot of strength in his hands, otherwise some embarrassing scenes would inevitably occur.

Franken left after introducing the two. Lamulu and Feng Xiaochen sat down separately. Before Feng Xiaochen could think about what to talk to each other, Lamulu spoke anxiously:

"Mr. Feng, my main purpose is to meet you this time."

"Oh, is that?" Although Feng Xiaochen knew in advance that Lamulu was going to see him, he did not expect that he would be straight to the point and not even make any mistakes.

Lamulu took out a beautifully bound booklet from his bag and placed it in front of Feng Xiaochen. The cover of the booklet was written in French, but Feng Xiaochen could recognize it, which was clearly the "first five-year plan for promoting industrialization in Africa."

Half a month ago, the secretariat of the association sent the document to the AU via email. A few days later, he received a reply from the AU, expressing his interest in the plan and hopes that officials from both sides can hold a formal meeting during the Seychelles Railway Celebration.

Feng Xiaochen originally thought that the African Union officials would make an appointment with him after the celebration, but he did not expect that Lamulu was not willing to wait for this time and went straight to the celebration site.

"This plan is very good! After reading it by my colleagues, I was very moved! We need this plan and we also need China's help!"

Lamulu said bluntly, without any intention of showing any reserve.

"This plan is just one of our ideas. It was proposed after summarizing some experiences and lessons in China's industrialization process. Whether it is in line with African practice, it may require African friends to determine whether it is in line with African practice." Feng Xiaochen said in a low-key manner.

The plan provided by Feng Xiaochen has concentrated the wisdom of several high-level think tanks in China, and the contributions made by equipment industry companies are particularly outstanding, because before this, many domestic equipment companies have cooperated with African countries and know the characteristics and difficulty of promoting industrial technology in Africa.

According to Feng Xiaochen's idea, helping Africa achieve industrialization is not simply selling some machinery and equipment, but providing a complete set of industrial solutions. Specifically, what kind of resource endowment, transportation conditions, energy supply conditions, labor quality, and markets do need to be considered comprehensively. If you just blindly promote the most advanced equipment and expand its production capacity uncontrollably, it will only lead to indigestion on the African continent and make Africa's already very weak economy worse.

It is easy to be familiar with Chinese think tanks in carrying out this kind of industrial planning. According to the preface of the document, this plan is scientific, forward-looking, feasible and economical. Out of a bad taste, Feng Xiaochen asked the writing team to split the entire plan into several stages and named the first stage of work "The First Five-Year Plan". The five-year plan is actually an invention of the former Soviet Union, but now China is the only major powers in the world that have such five-year plans. Feng Xiaochen's move is also a cultural export.

After receiving this "five-year plan", the African Union officials conducted serious study. Many people were shocked by the goals listed in the plan, and were immediately conquered by the rigorous argumentation and logic in the article. That is, Feng Xiaochen did not appear in front of them at that time, otherwise more than half of the African Union officials would have to bow to Feng Xiaochen and respectfully call him an ancient god.

In fact, this is not to say that the officials of the African Union are not as smart as those of Chinese think tank researchers, but that they have never made such a huge development plan, and the level of economic development limits their imagination. In this five-year plan, the compilers regard the entire African continent as a complete economy, propose industrial division of labor across borders, and use the advantages of scale to reduce production costs and improve production efficiency. Such a big move is something that the senior executives of the African Union have always hoped to achieve but dared not think about.

The African continent includes more than 50 countries. Due to historical and cultural reasons, there are profound contradictions and even constant wars. Political conflicts have led to economic divisions, so a unified large market cannot be formed and a unified transportation system cannot be established. A country with a population of only a few million people is difficult to support large-scale industrial projects, which makes the industrial level of African countries generally low and difficult to withstand the impact of cheap industrial products in the international market.
Chapter completed!