China, South Africa agree to seek balanced trade, more investments

China and South Africa, whose top leaders met in Beijing, agreed to promote balanced trade and discussed boosting two-way investments between their industrial and commercial communities, a joint statement on Tuesday showed.

President Xi Jinping and his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa met on Monday, ahead of the ninth forum on China-Africa cooperation. Both sides called Ramaphosa's visit of "great significance" to the development of bilateral relations.

Ramaphosa had sought with Xi to narrow South Africa's trade deficit with Beijing and review his country's trade structure with China, petitioning for more sustainable manufacturing and job-creating investments.

China, the world's second-biggest economy, is South Africa's largest trading partner globally but the value of its imports from China far outstripped exports last year.

In the joint statement, China showed it was willing to uplift job creation, citing recruitment conferences for Chinese enterprises to promote local employment in South Africa.

The statement also mentions adding manufacturing bases near the source of relevant raw materials, and promoting transfer of technology and skills among their businesses.

China was also willing to share more of its experience in poverty reduction and rural revitalization, according to the statement published by the Chinese foreign ministry.

After the meeting, both countries signed numerous cooperation documents that included the application of a satellite navigation system, housing and settlement and export requirements for dairy products and raw wool from South Africa to China.



Reuters