Central China's Hunan Province on Tuesday opened a cocoa trading hub to link Africa, the world's top cocoa producer, with China, whose appetite for chocolate continues to grow.

The African Cocoa Marketing Center, established in Changsha, the provincial capital of Hunan, will start by selling cocoa mainly from Ghana before introducing products from other African countries.

"I am convinced that every tasty chocolate tasted in China contains a certain amount of premium cocoa from Ghana," said Edward Boateng, Ghana's ambassador to China, adding that the West African country works with China. to further increase its supply.

According to Xu Xiangping, director of Hunan's commerce department, the province aims to build a major trading and processing center for African agricultural products, including cashew nuts, coffee, cotton and rubber. The cocoa center is one of the first "sub-centers".

Changsha on Tuesday held a conference to promote trade cooperation between Hunan and Ghana, Tanzania and Ethiopia, during which several agreements on cocoa import and industrial cooperation were signed. End