Minister of agriculture John Steenhuisen has applauded the South Africa-China trade relations during this week’s state visit with President Cyril Ramaphosa.
He said the country has signed agreements aimed at positioning the South African agricultural sector in a better position globally.
New agreements
“China is the world’s second-largest economy and access to the Chinese market for South African agricultural products opens up opportunity for growth and expansion of local agriculture.
“The Dairy Protocol will allow access to the Chinese market for South African dairy products, and the Greasy Wool Protocol will keep the trade in greasy wool open after an agreed treatment method,” he said.
According to Steenhuisen, the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) memorandum of understanding would mean that, for the first time, the Chinese would accept a compartmentalisation of the import of South African beef products.
“In the past, an outbreak of foot-and-mouth anywhere in the country would have led to a shutdown of the entire beef export market. Under the new memorandum of understanding (MOU) it will only be restricted from the affected province.
“This is just the beginning of opening up the Chinese market for South African products with more exciting announcements to be made later in the year,” he said.
Steenhuisen said he had a productive meeting with his counterpart in China, minister Han Jun. “We agreed to boost exports, enhance biosecurity, and relaunch an agricultural science student exchange programme,” he said.
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Presidential talk
Meanwhile, Ramaphosa said he is confident that the countries will have the opportunity to openly exchange views on many issues regarding our political, economic and technical cooperation as outlined in the 10-Year Strategic Programme of Cooperation.
“As we enter a new phase of our partnership, we should continue to consult closely in pursuit of a just, equitable and prosperous world.
“I believe that our elevated levels of mutual trust will accommodate each other’s interests, views and concerns – and deepen our cooperation as we build a shared future,” he said.
A joint statement from the two presidents (Ramaphosa and Xi Jinping) calls on the international community to support the efforts by African countries in terms of the full implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and allow Africa the space to realise the benefits of its integration agenda.
“The two presidents jointly witnessed the signing of several bilateral cooperation instruments in the following area, cooperation of the application of the Beidou navigation system, sustainable housing and human settlements development, deepening bilateral trade cooperation, [and] cultural heritage.
“Cooperation in prevention and control of foot-and-mouth disease, inspection quarantine and sanitary requirements for dairy products exported from the Republic of South Africa to the People’s Republic of China, and the protocol on greasy wool and cooperation in the] scientific field,” the statement said.
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