Huang Kunming, secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, met with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during his visit to Guangdong in Shenzhen on September 3.

Meng Fanli, deputy secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee and secretary of the CPC Shenzhen Municipal Committee, also attended the meeting.

Huang Kunming, secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, meets with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during his visit to Guangdong in Shenzhen on September 3. [Photo/southcn.com]

Huang extended a warm welcome to Ramaphosa and his delegation, providing a brief overview of economic and social development in Guangdong and Shenzhen. Huang emphasized the enduring and resilient friendship between China and the "Rainbow Nation", which he described as a place full of charm and vitality.

"Guangdong and South Africa have maintained robust economic and trade exchanges, with steady growth in bilateral trade over the years, and increasingly active exchanges across various fields," Huang said. "Looking ahead, the complementary strengths and broad prospects for future cooperation are clear."

"We will seize the new opportunities brought by the strategic positioning of China-South Africa relations and leverage Guangdong's unique advantages in fostering friendly exchanges and economic and trade interactions between the two countries," said Huang. 

"Together with South Africa, we will promote multi-level visits and exchanges, deepen mutual learning in areas such as special economic zone construction, local reforms and technological innovation, support enterprises in expanding two-way investment, strengthen the mutual promotion of advantageous products, and forge closer industrial and trade ties to achieve higher-quality development for both sides," Huang added.

Ramaphosa said he was pleased to be visiting Guangdong and Shenzhen again after many years, noting that South Africa has always regarded China as an important strategic partner.

Ramaphosa noted that Guangdong is at the forefront of China's reform and opening-up, providing strong economic power and robust innovation momentum. He also said he greatly admired cities like Shenzhen as they represented high-quality development and 40 years of consistent progress.

He added that South Africa is currently exploring a path of modernization suited to its national realities and said he hoped that this visit would lead to further China-South Africa exchanges. Specifically, he said he hoped there could be exchanges of expertise in the areas of local governance and economic development, while practical cooperation in trade, investment, infrastructure and technological innovation could be expanded.

Ramaphosa said South African warmly welcomed investment from Guangdong enterprises as they would contribute to the country's modernization, and assured them that South Africa would actively respond to their needs, providing the best possible conditions and a favorable development environment.