The China-Africa summit to be held in China in November will strengthen the growing China-Africa relationship, said visiting deputy foreign minister of South Africa Aziz Pahad on Friday.

 

The relationship would cover political, economic, cultural and people-to-people contacts, said Pahad.

 

He said China's new Africa policy, the visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to Africa in April and the coming visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to Africa had brought a dynamism to relations.

 

Pahad said the purpose of his visit was to consolidate relations between South Africa and China.

 

Next year would be the 10th anniversary of South Africa-China diplomatic relations, which had helped economic relations between South Africa and China grow considerably, Pahad said.

 

He said South African investment in China was higher than China's investment in South Africa, and South Africa hoped to see greater direct investment from China in South Africa.

 

The two sides had been working very closely on the African agenda and also cooperated closely in the issues like the UN reform, the Iran issue, and the North Korean issue, Pahad said.

 

"China has made a major offer to help us train people in South Africa," he said.

 

"We will want to see greater involvement of China in Africa. We want to see China playing a much more positive and active role in helping us develop the African continent," said Pahad.

 

Refering to reports that six Chinese had been killed in South Africa this year, Pahad said crime was a problem for all sectors of South African society and was not targeted at Chinese.

 

Problems such as law enforcement corruption had added to the lack of human resources and technology of the South African police.

 

However, the South African government was cooperating with China to strengthen its policing. "It is a broad problem that requires time to deal with," said Pahad.

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 3, 2006)