Media briefing remarks by His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa during the People’s Republic of China State Visit by His Excellency President Xi Jinping

Your Excellency, President Xi Jinping,

Minister and Deputy Ministers,

Ambassadors,

Officials,

Members of the media,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for joining us today at the conclusion of a successful meeting with His Excellency Xi Jinping, the President of the People’s Republic of China.

We have had wide ranging discussions with President Xi and his delegation, covering bilateral relations and cooperation, as well as a number of multilateral global matters of common interest.

The purpose of our meeting has been to review and strengthen our long lasting friendship, which has its roots in the bonds of solidarity that developed between our peoples during our struggle for liberation.

President Xi and I noted that relations between South Africa and China have developed and expanded considerably since diplomatic relations were established in 1998, just four years after the first democratic elections in South Africa.

We therefore celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations with a sense of achievement and determination to deepen cooperation..

This State Visit forms part of several other activities that we will jointly undertake during the course of this year under the umbrella of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations.

During this State Visit, we were able to go through a number of issues affecting the two countries, including the strengthening of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership which is a platform to engage on matters of mutual interest.

We have signed several Agreements and Memorandums of Understanding that are intended to further deepen our relations, including investment commitments to the value of US$14 billion.

President Xi Jinping has indicated that China is ready to invest and work with South Africa in various sectors, such as infrastructure development, ocean economy, green economy, science and technology, agriculture, environment and finance.

We also recognised that although trade figures have grown steadily over the past few years, bilateral trade has not reached its potential.

We have thus explored avenues for increasing trade, identifying sectors for future investment and promoting tourism.

We also discussed upcoming international events in which our two countries have common interest.

We have a number of multilateral platforms through which we pursue our shared objectives as leading members of the Global South.

From tomorrow South Africa will be hosting the 10th BRICS Summit and in September we will be going to China for a reciprocal State Visit and the Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

President Xi and I have agreed to continue supporting each other in international fora, including the United Nations.

In 2019, South Africa will commence its two-year non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. South Africa and China will continue to work together in full accord over the need for the reform of the structures and modalities of the work of the UN.

Both countries continue to advance the centrality of the UN and other multilateral fora in resolving issues of global concern.

The dynamism of the partnership between China and South Africa derives from a common desire to develop our bilateral relationship.

We have agreed that we must work as partners to improve the lives of our peoples by elevating our business, commercial and trade ties.

I wish to thank President Xi once again for hnouring us with a State Visit in this historic year and wish him and his delegation a wonderful stay in our country.

I thank you.

Source: Government of South Africa