On October 28, at the invitation of Kgalema Motlanthe, former President of South Africa, Ambassador Chen Xiaodong attended the Drakensberg Inclusive Growth Forum organized by the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation and delivered a speech on the Belt and Road Initiative and Belt and Road cooperation between China and South Africa. Over 400 participants were at the forum, including former President Motlanthe, Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan, Minister of Trade and Industry Ebrahim Patel and other dignitaries, as well as representatives from local government, political parties, business and industry circles, universities, think tanks, local communities and other sectors.
In his speech, Ambassador Chen introduced the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and the historic achievements of the Belt and Road Initiative. He said that President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony, in which he reviewed the achievements made during the past decade, summed up useful experience, and announced that China will take eight major measures to support the joint pursuit of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. The forum is another important milestone in Belt and Road cooperation. There are four major highlights: high level and wide participation; fruitful results; a new stage of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation as the most crucial consensus; joint efforts at global modernization as the most ambitious vision.
Ambassador Chen pointed out that South Africa took the lead among African countries in signing a Belt and Road cooperation MOU with China, and the win-win cooperation sets a fine example for Belt and Road cooperation to connect with Africa's development and advance South-South cooperation. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Africa. In August this year, President Xi Jinping paid a successful state visit to South Africa. China is ready to take this forum as an opportunity to jointly write a new chapter of high-quality Belt and Road development for both countries, and build a high-level China-South Africa community with a shared future.
The first is to expand and upgrade bilateral trade, and work to see that more South African minerals, agricultural and other high-quality products make their way into the Chinese market. The second is to boost bilateral investment cooperation. China is ready to work with South Africa to better connect infrastructure development strategies, encourage Chinese enterprises to invest more here, and help improve South Africa's infrastructure and promote sustainable economic development. The third is to jointly promote green economy, and expand cooperation in wind energy, solar energy, energy storage, power transmission and distribution, which will support South Africa's energy transformation and sustainable development. The fourth is to improve people's livelihood. China is ready to share our experience in poverty reduction, and boost cooperation with South African in agriculture, education and training, health, transportation, electricity and water resources.
According to participants at the Drakensberg Forum, the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping boosts Africa's economic growth and integration, and brings new opportunities for South Africa’s economic progress and better livelihood. They hope to see further interface between the Belt and Road Initiative and South Africa’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, more practical cooperation in areas like trade, investment, energy and minerals, agriculture, and poverty reduction, and more solid progress in high-quality Belt and Road cooperation between South Africa and China, to better enhance the well-being of the two peoples.
The Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation was founded by former President Motlanthe in 2014. As the flagship event of the Foundation, the Drakensberg Inclusive Growth Forum has been held for four times.