South Africa has signed trade agreements with China that will lead to an increase in the export of agricultural and manufactured products to the country.
Speaking at a media briefing in Beijing on Thursday during his state visit to China, President Cyril Ramaphosa said South Africa had signed a raft of trade agreements that would boost exports.
“We were able to sign eight agreements, many of which have to do with increased trade between the two countries, and that has led to the opening up of the Chinese market for South African products, particularly with regard to beef,” Ramaphosa said.
Beef exports to China have fluctuated during outbreaks of livestock diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease, as China would previously ban all imports from the country. He said under a new agreement, China would limit its bans to the region where an outbreak occurred.
“That is a great achievement because it will lead to the increase of our agricultural products coming into China, and we should see increased production in South Africa,” Ramaphosa said.
“The other area is for manufactured goods and products to have easier entry into China. With the agreement that we signed we were able to ensure that China would enable more manufactured goods from South Africa to be brought in. That, for us, is an important development.”
He said China had made enormous advances in technological development and the countries had reached an agreement to cooperate on research in science, technology and innovation.
“We were able to reach agreements on aspects of our energy security. South Africa has been going through a huge challenge of energy security. China’s assistance in this regard is going to stand us in good stead, therefore our other objective was achieved.”
He said his visit to China had been “hugely successful” to develop the country’s relationship with the world’s second-largest economy.
“China is our biggest trading partner, and we want an all-round cooperative strategic partnership in the new era to take it to a higher level. President Xi Jinping is at pains when he talks about not having enough manufactured goods from South Africa. He wants to see more goods in China from South Africa,” Ramaphosa said.
Meanwhile, President Xi announced the opening up of the Chinese market to African countries by zero-rating tariffs on various product lines this week.
“As the most industrialised country on the continent, South Africa stands to benefit immensely from this relationship. This is an important market for us as South Africans. This is a country that is willing to deal with us at a very serious, economic and political level,” Ramaphosa said.
“We have seen increased trade between our two countries. At the moment, the trade is imbalanced and in favour of China, rather than in our favour, and it is this we are focusing on, to correct that imbalance. We welcome the opening up of the Chinese market for more and more finished goods from South Africa.” - SAnews.gov.za
