During a signing ceremony held in Cape Town on Friday evening, a Chinese economic and trade delegation consisting of 60 entrepreneurs from more than 40 major companies, signed 93 cooperation agreements with their South African counterparts.
During the event at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), South Africa Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel said the agreements between Chinese buyers and South African suppliers, worth some R27 billion (€1.655 bln), reflected President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address in action.
Patel highlighted that over the past five years, South African exports of citrus fruit to China have quadrupled, and Pretoria is now the leading supplier of citrus fruit to Beijing: "We have become the world’s second largest exporter of citrus fruit. In only five years, our exports of nuts to China have expanded by a factor of 19, and we are now the third largest supplier to China. This astonishing growth in a time of otherwise weak trade speaks to what we can offer.”
"But South Africa offers more than fruit and nuts and vegetables and beef and minerals, though these are important too. We offer Africa’s largest and most diverse industrial base, with cutting-edge science and technology. "
At the end of his remarks, Patel presented gifts of "an unusual fruit, a piquate pepper, or what South Africans know as peppadew, discovered in South Africa" to Assistant Minister Ren and to Ambassador Lin.
Source: iol.co.za
