The nine day official visit to the People’s Republic of China by Parliament’s National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu and a delegation of Members of the South African Parliament from has kicked off with meetings with the top leadership of China.
The delegation includes National Assembly House Chairperson for International Relations, Ms Mildred Oliphant and members of Parliament the Portfolio Committees on International Relations and Cooperation, Water and Environmental Affairs, Committee on Energy, Science and Technology, the Standing Committee on Finance, Higher Education and Trade and Industry
The delegation has held meetings with President of the People’s Republic of China Mr Hu Jintao, Chairman of the National People’s Congress (NPC) of the People’s Republic of China Mr Wu Bangguo and with the NPC Vice Chairman Mr Hua Jianmin.
The Speaker’s visit to China comes immediately after the successful state visit of President Jacob Zuma in August of this year, during which a declaration on the Establishment of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership was signed. During the Speaker’s discussions with the Chinese leaders the importance of inter-Parliamentary cooperation to facilitate the success of the declaration was emphasised.
The declaration identifies a wide range of areas for cooperation between the two countries, including trade, investment, transport, education, health, infrastructure development, energy, mining and environmental management. It also calls for strengthening the relationship between the national legislatures of South Africa and the People’s Republic of China.
South Africa is the only country in Africa with which the People’s Republic of China has concluded such a partnership arrangement. This is a clear indication of the seriousness with which the leadership of China regards South Africa.
The strengthening of inter-parliamentary relations was identified during the visit as vital to the implementation of the commitments made by both governments. The vehicle for the implementation of the commitments is contained in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Regular Exchange Mechanism signed between the two legislators in 2006.
This visit comes on the eve of the fourth session of the China - South Africa Bi-national Commission (BNC) to be held in Cape Town in November 2010. The Chinese Vice President Mr Xi Jinping is expected to lead a high level Chinese delegation to the meeting. There was broad agreement that national legislatures of both countries should play a greater role in the implementation of the BNC undertakings.
During the visit to China, Mr Sisulu and his delegation also met with the executive committee of the South Africa-China Business Association, which comprises South African businesses with investments in the People’s Republic of China.
The delegation received positive feedback from the association on the business environment in the People’s Republic of China. It was felt that more information on business opportunities in both countries should be made available to encourage trade and investment.
The Speaker’s delegation’s visit is in fulfillment of Parliament’s oversight responsibilities. China has emerged as the second largest economy. Part of the objective of the visit is to glean important lessons from the Chinese experience.
Following the meetings in Beijing, the official visit continues until 29 October, with visits to programmes in Chongqing Municipality, Yichang Municipality, Hubei province and Shanghai. The cities, municipalities and provinces were selected to enable the delegation to gain insight into the development challenges that China is facing, such as inequalities between different provinces and between rural and urban areas.
Mr Sisulu will round off the trip with a visit to the Shanghai Expo where South Africa has a pavilion which has already attracted more than two million people.
For more information contact:
Estell Randall
Cell: 082 858 1047
Source: Parliament of South Africa
