Partnerships with China offer opportunities for Africa's economic growth: South African officials

JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- African countries should tap into their partnerships with China to boost skills transfer, infrastructure development, and economic growth, South African officials have said.

Anna Thandi Moraka, South Africa's deputy minister of international relations and cooperation, made the remarks on Wednesday in Pretoria, the country's administrative capital, at a seminar themed "Reimagining Africa's Modernization: Leveraging China-Africa Partnerships for Technology and Green Development," which was hosted by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA), a South African think tank.

Moraka said the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is a structure that African countries can leverage to industrialize and grow their economies.

"FOCAC should be used to accelerate growth and help us to build industries, investment, and support industrialization. We continue to look into the energy sector and infrastructure development initiatives. We need to partner with China in the whole process of industrialization of individual economies in the African continent," said Moraka.

Joel Netshitenzhe, executive director of MISTRA, said FOCAC could align with Africa's own strategies, such as Agenda 2063, the Africa Mining Vision, and the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Netshitenzhe noted that at the 2024 Beijing Summit of FOCAC, China announced 10 partnership actions to deepen its cooperation with the African continent, highlighting areas such as sectoral modernization, infrastructure connectivity, medical alliances, and the low-carbon transition as part of these initiatives.

"The announcement by China to lower import tariffs, which would reduce Africa's current trade deficit, and provide the opportunity to export high-quality products, is deeply appreciated," said Netshitenzhe.