On the sidelines of President Xi Jinping’s successful state visit to South Africa, the Press Center of the Chinese Delegation invited Bai Bin, Director-General of the Second Department of Regional Affairs of China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), to brief the media on China-South Africa cooperation.

Bai noted that China and South Africa share a special bond of comradeship and brotherhood. Over the years, the two countries have carried out practical cooperation in various fields such as agriculture, education, health, energy, maritime affairs, security, infrastructure and capacity building, setting a good example of South-South cooperation and giving a strong boost to the development of China-South Africa and China-Africa relations.

Bai pointed out that in recent years, the two heads of state have charted the course for further growth of China-South Africa comprehensive strategic partnership, and practical cooperation between the two sides has made steady progress. During the COVID-19 pandemic, China and South Africa stood in solidarity against the virus and supported each other. China provided South Africa with urgently-needed COVID response supplies and carried out virus detection and vaccine research and development cooperation with South Africa. At present, the two sides are focusing on promoting cooperation in specific projects such as vocational education schools, power facilities, small ports construction planning and poverty reduction demonstration villages in accordance with the development needs of South Africa. Personnel exchanges in various fields and cooperation in human resource development are expanding through short-term training, degree-acquiring education, Luban Workshops and Confucius Institutes. The meeting between the two heads of state will take China-South Africa development and cooperation in the new era to a new stage and contribute to the building of a closer China-Africa community with a shared future.