|
Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad concludes Official Visit
to Peoples Republic of China Shanghai - Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad
will tomorrow Monday 5 June 2006 conclude his official visit to the Peoples 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 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, 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; and
- 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 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 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. Issued by Ronnie Mamoepa on 082 990 4853 Department
of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001 4 June
2006 | 
