Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma will visit China to strengthen bilateral relations, the department of international relations said on Tuesday.
“President Zuma will meet with his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping, to strengthen bilateral relations and exchange views on regional and global issues,” spokesman Clayson Monyela said in a statement.
Zuma would be accompanied by the minister in the presidency, as well as the ministers of finance, trade and industry, environmental affairs, transport and agriculture, forestry and fisheries as well as the executive mayor of Tshwane.
“The Presidential delegation will also include South African business persons, who will attend the South Africa-China Business Forum on 5 December 2014 1/8Friday 3/8 in Beijing, with a view to promote and expand trade and investment between South Africa and China,” said Monyela.
The delegation would engage with the Chinese Government on several issues during the visit on Thursday and Friday.
These included strengthening bilateral relations with China, adopting the China-South Africa five- to 10-year framework on cooperation, securing investment in the development of science and technology, agro-processing, mining and mineral beneficiation, renewable energy, finance and tourism, as well as reviewing progress and cooperation in infrastructure development.
“This includes reviewing progress in the locomotive procurement project, particularly cooperation in equipment manufacturing and the localisation of procurement through joint ventures with South African companies,” said Monyela.
South Africa and China share a political and economic relationship, as China has become South Africa's single largest trading partner in the world, while South Africa is China's largest trading partner in Africa.
“The accession by South Africa to the membership of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) was an important milestone in the relations between the two countries,” said Monyela.
South Africa became a member of BRICS in December 2010.
“One of the major objectives of the 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 (NDP), cooperating in the areas of agriculture, environmental affairs, trade and industry, including finance,” Zuma said in a statement.
Sapa