Africa Focus: S.African, Chinese officials call for stronger bilateral ties

South African and Chinese government officials on Tuesday called for further strengthening relations between the two countries.

This emerged from the China-South Africa Economic Forum taking place in Johannesburg.

Rong Yansong, the Economic and Commercial Counselor at the Chinese Embassy in South Africa, said the two countries have been enjoying growing relationship over the past years.

He said, "China-South Africa relations have been growing sharply since 2001 with the signing of the strategic comprehensive partnership between the two countries.

"There is a great chance for the relationship to grow. We can cooperate actively in trade scale, trade structure and high value products. I see the relation between the two countries booming."

He said the past six years have seen trade between the two countries reaching 19.61 billion U.S. dollars and China becoming the biggest trading partner for South Africa.

Rong stated that his country is prepared to assist South Africa with technical support in areas like manufacturing, green economy and finance.

"There are many areas of cooperation like innovation. South Africa and China have 18 provinces which have bilateral relations including sister cities, provinces and cities like Shanghai and Durban as pronounced by leaders of both countries. These include think tanks, organizations to share information," he said.

Rong stated that the FOCAC (Forum on China-Africa Cooperation) meeting to be held in South Africa in December this yea will further cement Sino-Africa relations.

Yunus Hoosen, Head for Investment Promotion and Inter Departmental Clearing House as well as for Trade and Investment in South Africa, said the relations between the two countries are good and needs to be continuously enhanced.

Hoosen said, "We always analyze trade with other countries. We signed the strategic partnership with China and we need to diversify and deepen the value trade. Since 2010 China has been the biggest trading partner for both imports and exports, and this has to continue to improve."

He said China and Africa also needs to pursue ocean economy, renewable energy, solar, ship building, oil and gas, and power generation, among others.

He advised Chinese companies looking for opportunities to follow the government's plans for cooperation.

He stressed the need to plan localization and empower the locals.

"You have to transfer skills development and training to the locals. Localize supply chain to value chain. Look at the architecture beneficiation platform for value chain and come to work with us. If you do these you will be successful in this country," he said.

According to Hoosen, the South African government has financial and non-financial incentives to investors who want to come to the country for partnerships.

He gave an example of Hisense, a Chinese company operating in South Africa, which he said worked well with the South African government.

Ding Binyan, General Manager of Shanghai Feilo Acoustice Corporation Ltd in South Africa, said they have followed the country's rules in localization.

He said his company has been providing expert advice in South Africa since 2014.

"We provide one stop shopping for companies. We provide an environmentally friendly, cost effective, flexible contract and share technical expertise with the latest technology," Ding said.

The forum was held under the auspices of the Department of Foreign Investment Promotion of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce (SCOFCOM) and co-organized by Meorient International Exhibition and CBN (China Business Network).

It was also supported by the South African Department of International Trade and Investment. Enditem