South Africa has recognized China's market economy status, and the two sides are planning to launch Free Trade Agreement negotiations.

These are messages from a joint communique issued by Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong and his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma on Tuesday in the South African capital, Pretoria.

The two vice-presidents co-chaired the second plenary session of the China-South Africa Bi-National Commission Tuesday in Pretoria.

In the communique issued after the meeting, they both agreed market economy status will facilitate the process of linking the two economies as it will establish common principles and standards in the negotiation of trade rules.

As the strongest economy in Africa, South Africa now has become China's largest trading partner on the continent. Two-way trade in the first quarter of this year amounted to US$1.6 billion, up by more than 66 percent over the same period last year.

On Tuesday, the two countries also signed a package of cooperation agreements on education, human resources, hygiene and the orange trade.

(CCTV.com June 30, 2004)