South Africa Seeks Trade Balance with China Amid Forum on China-Africa Cooperation

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted the need to reduce his country's trade deficit with China during discussions with China's Xi Jinping. This comes ahead of a significant summit where African leaders will be encouraged to purchase more Chinese goods. The summit will also tackle topics such as Chinese lending and debt burdens in Africa.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed his country's trade imbalance with China during discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Ramaphosa emphasized the importance of narrowing the trade deficit and fostering sustainable investments and job creation.

The meeting sets the stage for the upcoming Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit, where Xi will encourage African leaders to purchase more Chinese goods. Despite China's pledge at the last summit in 2021 to buy $300 billion worth of African goods, it remains unfulfilled.

This year's summit will also focus on China's role as a major lender to Africa, where many nations are burdened by mounting debt. Both leaders agreed on enhancing cooperation in agriculture, health, infrastructure, and emerging fields such as AI and the digital economy.

(With inputs from agencies.)