A partnership brokered by the Eastern Cape government and the province of Zhejiang in China will see beef exported from Nelson Mandela Bay to Chinese markets, with officials promising this is only the first of many cooperation agreements.
Speaking on Friday as the province hosted a delegation from Zhejiang in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape premier Phumulo Masualle said he was hoping to build the relationship with the Chinese province to leverage opportunities in the tourism, agricultural and maritime sectors.
“Apart from the existing investments, we are setting out to look for new investments,” Masualle said following a bilateral meeting with the delegation.
“Some agreements have been entered into, [though the] magnitude thereof is unknown.”
Among these memorandums were an agreement of friendship cooperation, another for business cooperation and a third signed between a Bay company and a Chinese business, for the export of beef.
Lentaba operations director Ian Landman confirmed that the Markman-based meat producer would be supplying beef to the Chinese market in the near future, through an agreement with the Zhejiang Native Produce and Animal By-Products group.
Landman could not attach a value to the agreement.
“Basically we have signed a cooperation agreement to enter into business, and we will analyse opportunities.
“This [opens up] bigger opportunities for export for the company,” he said.
Other businesses were given a chance to network and broker similar deals with the 40 business leaders who formed part of the visit to the Bay.
Masualle said numerous other agreements were in the pipeline.Meanwhile, Chinese government officials visited Nelson Mandela University, the Port of Ngqura and the Port of Port Elizabeth to explore possible opportunities for future partnerships and investments.
Zhejiang governor Che Jun said he was interested in leveraging the two provinces’ respective strengths to create more jobs.
“[We want to explore the] areas of agriculture and fisheries,” Jun said.
“I’d like to import more beef and fish from the Eastern Cape.
“We can also work together on port development and explore opportunities in manufacturing, SMEs and the digital economy.
“Zhejiang attaches great importance to our relationship with South Africa. We are ready to work with South Africa to bring our mutually beneficial cooperation to a new level.”
In turn, Masualle said he hoped to attract tourists from Zhejiang to the Bay.
Chinese ambassador to South Africa Lin Songtian said his role would be to assist in ensuring a win-win situation for both provinces.
“We have a common goal to make the strategic partnership more productive and beneficial through visible and tangible results,” he said.
Bay mayor Athol Trollip welcomed the support of the Zhejiang officials and businesses.
“We have great respect and admiration for what China has [achieved] with their sustainable economic growth,” Trollip said.
“We can learn a lot from each other, particularly in the fields of [renewable] energy and protecting our water resources.”