The South African government announced on Wednesday that its relations with China remain central to realizing its developmental agenda.

Such relations will help the two countries collaborate in agriculture, environmental affairs, trade, industry and finance as South Africa continues to drive its development agenda, the government said in a statement as Chinese President Xi Jinping is paying a state visit to South Africa.

The visit also provides an opportunity to review progress on existing areas of trade and cooperation between the two nations, and to expedite and finalize new areas of cooperation, said the statement.

SA President Jacob Zuma hosted the Chinese president at the Union Buildings in Pretoria Wednesday afternoon.

The two leaders are expected to use the state visit to finalize the China-South Africa 5-10 Year Framework on Cooperation, which was signed in December 2014.

The two presidents will co-chair the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit which starts on Friday.

China and South Africa, as two major developing countries and emerging economies, hold identical views on development, security and international order, the SA government statement said.

The two countries have closely coordinated and cooperated with each other in international organizations and multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations, G20, BRICS, and BASIC countries, said the SA government statement.

China and South Africa established diplomatic ties in 1998. Over the last 17 years, relations have developed across the board and upgraded from a partnership to a strategic partnership and then to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

For six years in a row China has been South Africa's largest trading partner.

The two nations have seen two-way trade reaching 60.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2014. Meanwhile, Chinese aggregate investment in South Africa has risen from zero to 13 billion dollars, making South Africa the top destination for Chinese investment in Africa.

Projects invested and undertaken by Chinese companies included industrial parks, assembly plants of vehicles and locomotives and cement factories which also helped create jobs for local communities.

With China having transformed from a vastly agrarian nation to the world's largest and most vigorous manufacturing powerhouse, South Africa can learn a lot from China, the statement said. Enditem

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