Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma will this afternoon host his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping at the Union Buildings for a State visit.
President Xi will meet President Zuma ahead of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit which starts on Friday.
The two leaders are expected to use the State visit to finalise the China-South Africa 5-10 Year Framework on Cooperation, which was signed in December 2014.
They will further engage in bilateral talks where they will look at the progress made thus far on the Strategic Programme with specific reference to the six priority areas identified.
These priority areas include the alignment of industries to accelerate South Africa’s industrialisation process; enhancement of cooperation in Special Economic Zones (SEZs); marine cooperation; infrastructure development, human resources cooperation; and financial cooperation.
South Africa’s relations with China remain central to realising its developmental agenda through its foreign policy as it increases efforts to implement the National Development Plan, collaborate in agriculture, environmental affairs, trade and industry and finance as the country continues to drive the agenda of moving South Africa forward.
It also provides an opportunity to review progress on existing areas of trade and cooperation between the two nations, and to expedite and finalise new areas of cooperation.
China and South Africa first established diplomatic ties in 1998.
Over the last 17 years, relations have developed across the board having upgraded from a partnership to a strategic partnership and then a comprehensive strategic partnership.
China and South Africa, as two major developing countries and emerging economies hold identical views on development, security and international order. They have closely coordinated and cooperated with each other in international organisations and multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations and, G20, Brics, and Basic countries.
The two nations’ relations has seen two way trade reaching $60.3 billion in 2014.
For six years in a row China has been South Africa’s largest trading partner. Chinese investment in South Africa has risen from zero to $13 billion, making South Africa the top destination for Chinese investment destination in Africa.
Projects invested and undertaken by Chinese companies include industrial parks, assembly plants of vehicles and locomotives and cement factories which have created an estimated 10 000 jobs for local communities.
With China having transformed from a vastly improvised agrarian nation to the world largest and most vigorous manufacturing powerhouse, South Africa can learn a lot from China which attributes its success to its industrial plan.
China’s industrial plan saw the Asian giant creating special economic zones which foreign investors were freed from bureaucratic regulations. The plan also saw them prioritise and modernise agriculture, industry, science and technology.
South Africa is also prioritising special economic zones (SEZs) which government hopes will support the broader-based industrialisation growth path in South Africa, while helping the country achieve the objectives of the National Development Plan.
Special economic zones are defined as geographically designated areas of the country that are set aside for specifically targeted economic activities, and supported through special arrangements and systems that are often different from those that apply to the rest of the country.
To date, South Africa has five designated industrial development zones (IDZs), namely Coega, East London, Richards Bay, OR Tambo and the recently designated Saldanha Bay. - SAnews.gov.za
