BuaNews

Durban – KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sibisiso Ndebele is to host a delegation from the Chinese province of Shanghai on Tuesday to renew ties and relations with the world’s fast growing country.

The two are to sign a Memorandum of Understanding which will see the two provinces committing to further growth and development.

The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government is hoping to partner with the Chinese province to manufacture solar panels in South Africa, among others. Currently 30 percent of global production takes place in the Jiangsu Province.

The two-day visit will also see a Chinese delegation holding a bilateral meeting with members of the KwaZulu-Natal Executive Council as well as representatives from business and a business seminar between South African and Chinese businessmen.

China, regarded as one of the new emerging power houses next to India and Brazil, has been exchanging experience and expertise on developmental issues for over ten years.

In the past, various visits and missions to China pointed the province towards a programme of generating direct foreign investment opportunities in the form of joint ventures in resource-based sectors in Shanghai and Jiangsu provinces.

Projects of cooperation were also identified in various areas including programmes with the provincial Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism, Department of Education as well as the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs.

Further, activities by Trade and Investment KwaZulu-Natal are concentrated in two regions, namely the city of Shanghai and the Jiangsu Province and the City of Nanjing.

Since 2004 KwaZulu-Natal has followed a deliberate engagement strategy with China. Three MOUs have been concluded with various provinces, namely Fujian, Shanghai and Jiangsu, and a range of possible further cooperation areas are being explored. - BuaNews