Remarks by His Excellency, President Zuma, at the Media Conference at the conclusion of the official bilateral talks with President Xi Jinping of China
Your Excellency, President Xi Jinping and your distinguished delegation,
The South African delegation,
Members of the media,
It is a pleasure for me to host President Xi Jinping on his second State Visit to South Africa.
It is also an historic visit taking place on the eve of the first FOCAC Summit in Africa.
We are honoured to host this important event in South Africa.
Our meeting today provided us with the opportunity to discuss progress we have made with the implementation of our "Five-to-Ten Year Strategic Programme of Cooperation'.
Many areas of cooperation have been identified and a great deal of progress has been made in the areas identified for 2015.
The 2015 areas of cooperation are the following:
- Alignment of industries to accelerate South Africa's industrialisation process;
- Enhancement of cooperation in Special Economic Zones
- Enhancement of marine cooperation;
- Infrastructure development;
- Human resource cooperation; and
- Financial cooperation.
In our discussions today, President Xi and I both expressed our satisfaction about the progress we have made in the implementation of identified projects.
We focused on especially our economic and trade relations.
You have just witnessed the signing of 26 agreements that are worth 94 billion rand.
The volume of agreements indicates the amount of work that has been done in the past few months.
We agreed that more could and should be done to increase our trade and investment figures.
South Africa has just hosted an Inward Buying Mission from China, which comprised large Chinese State owned enterprises in the areas of Agriculture and Agro-processing, Minerals, Plastics and Chemicals, Capital Goods, Automotive and related sectors.
We wish to invite more inward buying missions to South Africa.
I believe that this will contribute to addressing the structure of our bilateral trade, as well as the industrialisation of our economy.
We were both satisfied about the level and extent of the cooperation that exists between our two countries with regard to the establishment of Special Economic Zones and science parks in South Africa.
In this regard, I refer particularly to Chinese investments in the Metallurgical Cluster by the Hoi Mor Consortium within the Musina Special Economic Zone in Limpopo.
We requested China's continued support for the development of South African special economic zones and industrial parks, especially in infrastructure development and the establishment of incubation centres and specialised training institutes.
In the area of energy, I informed President Xi that there is a niche for cooperation with China mainly in wind, solar and hydro power through the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Programme programme.
We have also discussed our cooperation related to Operation Phakisa, especially programmes aimed at unlocking the potential of our ocean economy.
Amongst others, these include the development of small harbours and the positioning and utilisation of South African ports as Transhipment Hubs for Chinese Ocean Carriers in their global trade and within the BRICS trade.
In addition, we also proposed further engagement with China on the recapitalisation of our marine manufacturing capacity and investments in vessel construction businesses.
We also seek to expand tourism and business interaction. We therefore welcome the introduction of direct flights between Johannesburg and Beijing by Air China.
South Africa has opened two new visa processing centres in Chengdu and Guangzho which will further promote travel between the two countries.
We have each expressed our views regarding the UN climate change conference COP21 which is currently taking place in Paris.
The impacts of climate change affect everyone.
African countries are already experiencing some of the worst effects of climate change.
We must anticipate that these impacts will worsen over time, unless global greenhouse gas emissions are drastically reduced, with developed countries taking the lead.
We urge all parties in Paris to put the interests of the world first and not allow national interests to make it difficult to reach an agreement.
We remain optimistic that a legally binding agreement will be reached as we have no other choice. We have to act now before it is too late.
We also confirmed to China, our support for their Presidency of the G20 and to cooperate with them to further advance those issues we deem crucial to developing countries.
Naturally, we also touched upon the main developments in BRICS, since the Ufa Summit in July this year.
We also discussed the need to promote global peace and security and condemned the recent acts of terror in France, Nigeria and other countries. Global action against terrorism is necessary within the ambit of the United Nations.
In this regard, the reform and expansion of the UN Security Council is also critical for it to include other regions of the globe especially Africa with its one billion people.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Relations between China and South Africa are currently at their best level ever. We are truly pleased to host President Xi and his delegation.
We look forward to a fruitful State visit and a highly successful Forum on Africa-China Cooperation this week.
I would now wish to invite President Xi Jinping, to address the media.
I thank you.
