Cape Town - South African President Jacob Zuma will on Wednesday host the president of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, on a state visit.
In a statement, the South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco) said Xi’s visit follows on from Zuma’s visit to China in December 2014 when the two countries concluded the “Five-to-Ten Year Strategic Programme for Cooperation between the Republic of South Africa and the People’s Republic of China”.
Dirco said the two leaders would engage in bilateral talks where they would look at the progress made thus far on the Strategic Programme with specific reference to the six priority areas identified for 2015, namely:
- Alignment of industries to accelerate South Africa’s industrialisation process;
- Enhancement of cooperation in Special Economic Zones (SEZs);
- Enhancement of marine cooperation;
- Infrastructure development
- Human resources cooperation
- Financial cooperation.
“South Africa’s relations with China are at the level of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP). The Beijing Declaration on the Establishment of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership encapsulates all facets of South Africa’s relations with China, where China has committed to the respective developmental objectives. The focus of the State Visit will, therefore, be on economic and trade relations between the two countries,” said Dirco.
“Total trade between South Africa and China experienced an upward trajectory since 2009, growing from R118 billion to R271 billion by the end of 2013. While there is a trade imbalance between China and South Africa, both countries have implemented various mechanisms to address these discrepancies. These mechanisms include: the Inter-Ministerial Joint Working Group (JWG), RSA-PRC Bi-National Commission, Five-to-Ten Year Strategic Programme for Cooperation and the Strategic Dialogue.”
Dirco said it was envisaged that a large number of agreements would be signed during the visit, from government, state-owned enterprises and the private sector in various fields of collaboration between the two countries.
“South Africa will also present a Project Book to China which includes key sectors within the priority areas listed,” the department said. “The key sectors are, among others, energy, infrastructure, industrialisation and agriculture.”
The State visit will be followed by the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (Focac) which takes place in Johannesburg later this week.
ANA
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