South African President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday urged China to invest more in infrastructure and manufacturing in his country, as his government seeks to broaden South Africa's economic appeal beyond mines and resources.
South Africa is looking for expanded trade and investment to meet its development needs by improving roads, communications and power and by generating more manufacturing jobs, Zuma told a forum of business executives from China and South Africa.
The South African leader's comments underscored the attractiveness of China for African countries, while hinting at the frustrations of African governments and companies that want to see more Chinese investment and orders spreading beyond mines and resources.
For Beijing, Zuma's visit is an opportunity to consolidate ties with African countries, where China is increasingly turning for resources, markets and diplomatic support. Late last year, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao offered Africa $10 billion in concessional loans over three years.
Zuma was accompanied by a delegation of more than 370 business representatives - the biggest ever for a South African leader's visit abroad, said officials. Chinese and South African executives signed a dozen deals and memorandums of understanding about investments in energy, power transmission and railways.
The deals included a 240 million euro ($303.6 million) loan agreement between South Africa's third-largest mobile phone operator, Cell C, and China Development Bank.
Later in the day, Zuma and Chinese President Hu Jintao signed a broad pact vowing to enhance ties and then watched as officials from the two nations signed agreements on co-operation in mining and energy, railways and environmental protection. With GDP growth forecast at 2.3 percent this year, South Africa stacks up unfavourably against China, and Zuma is looking to narrow his country's trade deficit with Beijing.
Underscoring the broader challenges of doing business in South Africa, more than 1 million public sector workers launched a strike last week, the latest in a wave of labour protests to hit the country since May. China is South Africa's largest trading partner, but last year South Africa ran a $2.7 billion trade deficit with China, according to South African statistics.
In the first six months of 2010, trade between the two countries reached $10.8 billion in value, a jump of 56.1 percent compared with the same time last year, according to Chinese statistics.