Mpumalanga’s Premier, Mandla Ndlovu, has signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Longan Municipality in China.
Ndlovu is leading a delegation from the Department of Agriculture to further strengthen and grow provincial collaboration with China.
Accompanying him are the MEC for Agriculture, Nompumelelo Hlophe, the Department’s Director General, Maggie Skhosana and the Department Head for Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Environmental Affairs, Cain Chunda.
Other senior government officials from the Agriculture and Treasury Departments are also part of the delegation.
The main focus of this visit is on collaboration with Longnan Municipality’s. It is not focused only agricultural cooperation, but also industrial, infrastructure development, cultural and tourism, talent identification and development exchange, among others.
This collaboration is in line with the outcomes of the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit for strengthening bilateral deliberations between the Republic of South Africa (SA) and the People’s Republic of China, The Summit was held in Beijing during September last year.
Among the agreements are bilateral trade and market access. This seeks to expand and diversify trade between the two countries.
It would include the facilitation of market access for SA’s agricultural products into China, the reduction of non-tariff barriers and the promotion of agri-processing and logistics collaboration.
“As Mpumalanga’s government, we are responding to the vision of our President, Cyril Ramaphosa, when he signed this agreement. As part of that, we entered into the MoU to define a series of action plans and interventions to accelerate provincial trade between Mpumalanga and Longnan Municipality,” Ndlovu explained.
The visit would also focus on other economic activities to aid the province in improving its economy and reduce the unemployment rate.
He further said this would be realised through the operationalization of the Mpumalanga International Fresh Produce Market. “It would benefit, among others, famers from previously disadvantaged communities and our people,” concluded Ndlovu.
Longnan City’s Executive Deputy Mayor, Li Rong, said with the signing of the MoU, it is hoped that this will not only be a beginning, but set a new example of in-depth and solid development of bilateral cooperation. “Longnan will henceforth be your home in China. The relationship between China and South Africa is not just a win-win situation, but one of complementary advantages to create shared value together. It is hoped that this will be the beginning of a “family + partner” relationship between the two sides,” he said.
