On June 1, 2023, Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu met with South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor in Cape Town.
Ma Zhaoxu said that under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and South Africa has developed in depth.
China is willing to work together with South Africa to enhance political mutual trust, strengthen practical cooperation, and push bilateral relations to new heights. China will fully support the work of South Africa's BRICS presidency, strengthen BRICS solidarity, build consensus on cooperation, and promote the high-quality development of the BRICS mechanism.
Pandor said that South Africa and China have a special friendly relationship of "comrades plus brothers".
They have always understood and supported each other on major issues, and have achieved fruitful results in practical cooperation in various fields.
South Africa is willing to work together with China and other BRICS partners to consolidate the momentum of solidarity and cooperation, enrich the connotation of practical cooperation, and promote the 15th BRICS Summit to achieve a complete success.
The 15th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit, will be held in Johannesburg from 22 to 24 August.
The theme of the summit is “BRICS and Africa: Partnership for mutually accelerated growth, sustainable development and inclusive multilateralism”.
To address this theme, five key priorities were selected:
– Developing a partnership towards an equitable Just Transition. This aim is to alleviate the effects of climate by moving towards a net zero carbon dioxide emissions target by 2050, while at the same time ensuring that no one gets left behind.
– Transforming education and skills development for the future. This is especially pressing as the latest test results show that a massive 81% of South Africa’s Grade 4 learners cannot read with meaning. It is also a priority for the Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution to equip the youth with the skills needed to benefit from this megatrend.
– Unlocking opportunities through the African Continental Free Trade Area. To help with achieving this priority, the Gauteng provincial government hosted a briefing on the Inter Africa Trade Fair that will be held in Cairo, Egypt in November 2023.
– Strengthening post-pandemic socio-economic recovery and the attainment of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. In that respect, the BRICS Co-operation in Customs Matters Agreement (CCMA) has been finalised, but not yet signed.
– Strengthening multilateralism, including working toward real reform of global governance institutions and strengthening the meaningful participation of women in peace processes. BRICS has been promoting this measure for several years, but as of now there has been no structural reform of the UN Security Council for several decades.
To promote the above priorities, South Africa would host some 200 events this year that would address these issues. In particular, cabinet approved five deliverables.