Cape Town - President Jacob Zuma landed in Beijing on Wednesday to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
The meeting is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations and to exchange views on regional and global issues, South Africa's presidency said in a statement.
Zuma has with him International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies, Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa, Transport Minister Dipuo Peters, and Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana.
The delegation is accompanied by South African business leaders, who are set to attend the South Africa-China Business Forum on Friday. The forum is aimed at promoting and expanding trade and investment between the two countries.
The statement quotes Zuma saying one of the major objectives of the three-day state visit is “to ensure that our relations with China remain central to realising our developmental agenda through our foreign policy, as we increase our efforts to implement the National Development Plan”.
This involved co-operating in agriculture, environmental affairs, trade and industry, and finance.
Sapa