On February 6, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition of South Africa Parks Tau co-chaired the Ninth Meeting of the China-South Africa Joint Economic and Trade Committee in Beijing. The two sides engaged in in-depth exchanges on deepening multilateral and bilateral economic and trade cooperation between the two nations.

Wang Wentao noted that under the strategic guidance of the heads of state of the two countries, China and South Africa have worked closely together and achieved remarkable results in bilateral economic and trade cooperation. This year marks the start of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) period, during which China will continue to advance high-quality development and firmly expand high-standard opening up, bringing new opportunities for China-South Africa cooperation. China is willing to work with South Africa to further tap the potential of bilateral trade. Through the negotiation and signing of the agreement on economic partnership for shared development, China will ensure that South Africa enjoys zero-tariff treatment on 100 percent tariff lines for exports to China in a manner consistent with WTO rules, providing long-term, stable, and predictable institutional safeguards to comprehensively elevate bilateral economic and trade cooperation. China stands ready to actively respond to South Africa’s “new investment initiative,” expand investment cooperation in sectors such as automobiles, mining, agriculture, and new energy, and jointly build stable and resilient industrial and supply chain partnerships. It is hoped that South Africa will provide greater facilitation and support for Chinese enterprises investing and operating in the country. Against the backdrop of rampant unilateralism and protectionism, China will continue to strengthen communication and coordination with South Africa within multilateral frameworks such as the WTO and BRICS, jointly upholding the authority and effectiveness of the rules-based multilateral trading system centered on the WTO.

Parks Tau said that under the current circumstances, South Africa attaches great importance to deepening economic and trade cooperation with China. South Africa is willing to strengthen communication and cooperation with China, provide a favorable policy environment for Chinese enterprises investing and operating in South Africa, and jointly promote the sustained and healthy development of bilateral trade and industrial cooperation. South Africa stands ready to strengthen cooperation with China within multilateral frameworks such as the WTO and jointly uphold multilateralism and advance global trade development.

Following the meeting, the two sides signed the Framework Agreement between the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of South Africa on Economic Partnership for Shared Development, making South Africa the 33rd African country to sign such a framework agreement with China. This represents another concrete step to help African nations share in China’s supersized market and vast development opportunities. The two sides also issued the Joint Statement of the Ninth Meeting of the Joint Economic and Trade Committee between the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Competition of the Republic of South Africa.