People visit the China-Africa Achievement Exhibition on High-Level Building of the Belt and Road Initiative during the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, July 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo)

CHANGSHA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Central China's Hunan Province has set a GDP growth target of about 6 percent for 2024, Hunan governor Mao Weiming said Wednesday.

The province aims to increase its value-added industrial output and fixed-asset investment by 7 percent and 5 percent, respectively, this year, Mao said when delivering a government work report at the annual session of the provincial people's congress.

Hunan saw an economic slowdown in the first quarter of 2023 but has since picked up steam, with its GDP rising 4.6 percent to exceed 5 trillion yuan (about 700 billion U.S. dollars) in 2023. Its per capita disposable income grew by 5.5 percent, continuing to outperform the economic growth, according to the work report.

A hub for China-Africa trade and cooperation, Hunan's trade volume with Africa reached 55.67 billion yuan in 2023, ranking first in central and western regions of China, Mao said.

The State Council has approved the overall plan on the construction of the pilot zone for in-depth China-Africa economic and trade cooperation, promising to actively support Hunan in building the pilot zone.

The work report notes that Hunan has set a growth target of 6 percent for its total import and export in 2024.