Peopleâs Republic of China
4 June 2006
Shanghai - Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad will tomorrow, Monday, 5 June
2006 conclude his official visit to the Peopleâs Republic of China that saw him
visit Beijing and Shanghai from Wednesday -Monday, 31 May - 5 June 2006.
Deputy Minister Pahad was accompanied by Deputy Minister of Finance Jabu
Moleketi and senior officials from the departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade
and Industry.
While in Beijing Deputy Ministers Aziz Pahad and Jabu Moleketi held
discussions with Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, the Assistant Minister of
Foreign Affairs for Africa, Mr HE Yafei, Vice Minister of the Research Office
of the State Council, Jiang Xiaojuan, Head of the Communist Party International
Department and representatives of the South African business community based in
China.
Discussions focused on:
* bilateral political and economic relations between both countries
* developments in Africa including conflict resolution and peacekeeping in the
Great Lakes region, Angola, Sudan, and Cote d'Ivoire
* preparations for the visit to South Africa by the Chinese Premier Wen Jiaboa
scheduled from 21-22 June 2006 and the forthcoming Sino-Africa Summit to be
hosted in Beijing in November 2006
* co-operation in multilateral fora including South Africa's chairmanship of
the Group of 20 (G-20) and the Group of 77 + China (G-77 + China)
* the comprehensive reform of the United Nations
* other issues of international interest including the nuclear issue in Iran
and North Korea, Iraq and the escalating tensions between Israel and
Palestine.
Discussions affirmed that South Africa is a strategic partner for China and
that both countries were allies in efforts to achieve the developmental agenda
of the South. It was reiterated by both China and South Africa, that as
signatories to the New Africa Asia Strategic Plan, both countries should be
increasingly consolidating their political relations into stronger economic
relations with a view to creating better lives for all their people and
fighting poverty and underdevelopment.
South Africa is presently China's key trade partner in Africa accounting for
20,8% of the total volume of China-Africa trade. China has set up more than 80
companies in South Africa since 1998 while Chinese Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI) to South Africa amounted (cumulatively) to about US$199.3 million, while
South African FDI into China amounted to about US$ 700 million (excluding
offshore investments from South African corporates such as SAB Miller and Anglo
American.
The complementary nature of the two economies provided the impetus for the
growth of trade. At the same time, bilateral trade amounts to only a very small
percentage of both China and South Africa's international trade profile,
suggesting that there is still enormous potential for an increased exchange of
goods and services.
According to 2004 statistics South Africa exports reached nearly R5.5
billion with China and imported more than R18 billion of manufactured goods
from China. Total China-Africa trade reached about $29.5 billion in 2004, an
increase of 59% over 2003. Growth since 2001 has increased at an average of
31.2 percent a year.
In addition, both President Mbeki and Chinese President Hu Jintao, as
outreach partners together with India and Mexico, will be representing the
interests of developing countries at the Group of 8 (G-8) Summit to be hosted
by Russia in July 2006. South Africa and China have both also been elected to
the United Nations newly implemented Human Rights Council.
Ministers Pahad and Yafei reiterated their positions that it is imperative
the United Nations and all its institutions, as the premier institution charged
with protecting and defending multilateralism, be transformed if it is to
effectively deliver on this mandate.
Both countries agreed to continue their co-operation in multilateral fora
with a renewed focus on the implementation of the developmental agenda of the
South.
Assistant Minister Yafei also indicated China's intention to synergise
economic co-operation projects with Africa through the framework of New
Partnership for Africaâs Development (NEPAD) as the Continent's socio-economic
development programme. In this regard, China has committed itself to cancelling
some of Africa's debt, providing "soft loans" to African countries and
increasing official development assistance (ODA) to the Continent.
With regard to peace and security in Africa, Assistant Minister Yafei
received a thorough briefing from Deputy Minister Pahad. Deputy Minister Pahad
also thanked China for its contribution to United Nations peacekeeping
operations on the Continent and for its efforts to contribute to post-conflict
reconstruction and development in countries like Angola and the Sudan, China
reiterated its position that, flowing from its historical relations with the
continent, it will continue to be involved in Africa through peacekeeping
operations and post-conflict reconstruction and development.
Deputy Ministers Pahad and Yafei reiterated that the conflict situations in
the Middle East, including Iran, Afghanistan, Israel and Palestine must be
resolved if global peace and security is to be achieved. The inflammatory
situation in the Middle East cannot be sustained and increasingly gives to rise
to greater global tensions and creates a more fertile climate for
terrorism.
The South African delegation also received an extensive briefing by Minister
Xiaojuan regarding China's experiences of socio-economic development including
its achievement of an average of 9.6% growth in the last 25 years and efforts
to develop its human capital through primary and tertiary education, on-the-job
training and other initiatives.
These lessons will be useful to South Africa as it implements its
Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) and Joint
Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) under the stewardship of
Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
Deputy Minister Pahad said it would be imperative that both the South
African government and private sector and parastatals take lessons from China's
exponential growth in a very short time.
In Shanghai, Deputy Minister Pahad held discussions with the Vice Mayor of
Shanghai, the Vice President of the Shanghai Industrial Investment Co-operation
and South African businessman based in Shanghai.
The Shanghai Industrial Investment Co-operation was founded and registered
in Hong Kong in July 1981 and has grown in scale and overall strength, being
the largest and most powerful integrated overseas business group from Shanghai.
The Shanghai Industrial Investment Co-operation has been active in South Africa
since 1990.
Deputy Minister Pahad will return to South Africa on Tuesday, 6 June
2006.
Enquiries:
Ronnie Mamoepa
Cell: 082 990 4853
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
4 June 2006
Source: SAPA
