Trade between South Africa and China more than doubled in the four years to 2013 to 271 billion rand ($19 billion), the South African statistics office said.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping was given a warm welcome by President Jacob Zuma at the Union Buildings on Wednesday afternoon.
“South Africa has just hosted an inward buying mission from China which comprise large Chinese state-owned enterprises”.
The Chinese President had informed Buhari of the willingness of his country to finance the whole project through a special loan agreement.
They are expected back to the country on Saturday December 5.
China-South Africa relations have gone beyond the bilateral scope and gained growing strategic significance and global impact, he wrote, noting the two countries stand ready to work together and seize the opportunities and momentum to take their comprehensive strategic partnership to new heights to better serve their peoples. “We want to build it into a model for relationships between China and other emerging economies”, Xi said at a media conference following the talks. Patrick Chinamasa, Zimbabwe’s minister of finance and economic development, said infrastructure remains the fundamental challenge to unleashing the country’s potential.In 2014, more than 3.6 million mutual visits were made between China and Africa.
Xi will co-chair the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation this week, with several African heads of state expected to attend, and the summit discussions are seen centring on whether China will extend new loans despite its slowing economy, while African states may push for debt moratoriums and technology transfers.
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The two-day Johannesburg Summit, starting on Friday, is expected to adopt a declaration and action plan outlining measures aimed at consolidating China-Africa relations. The two new routes will not only promote the traditional friendship between China and Africa, meeting the ever increasing market demand for air travel, but also reflect Air China’s response to the Chinese government’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative.
