Chinese premier meets South African president

BEIJING - Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Monday met with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is in Beijing for the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and a state visit.

The elevation of bilateral ties to an all-round strategic cooperative partnership in the new era, which was announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Ramaphosa during their talks on Monday, opens a new chapter for building a high-level China-South Africa community with a shared future, Li said.

He said that China is ready to work with South Africa to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, and promote the stable development of China-South Africa relations and cooperation.

China will strengthen the alignment of development strategies with South Africa, expand collaboration in infrastructure, agriculture, new energy and sci-tech innovation, and deepen trade and investment cooperation, Li said.

China will import more quality products from South Africa, Li said, calling on South Africa to continue to provide a sound business environment for Chinese enterprises investing in the country.

The two sides will also promote people-to-people exchanges and improve cooperation in culture, tourism, education, youth and poverty reduction, Li said.

Ramaphosa said South Africa is ready to expand bilateral trade with China under the framework of the Belt and Road cooperation, and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in areas of investment, infrastructure, energy, and people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

South Africa greatly values the core role China plays in global affairs and highly appreciates China's commitment to safeguarding the interests of Africa and developing countries, he said.