Yesterday, Yin Yong, Mayor of Beijing, met with Panyaza Lesufi, Premier of Gauteng Province of South Africa.

Yin welcomed Lesufi and his delegation to Beijing on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of both the China-South Africa diplomatic relations and the Beijing-Gauteng sister city relationship. He said that during the recent phone call between President Xi Jinping and President Cyril Ramaphosa, a consensus was reached on building a high-level China-South Africa community with a shared future, charting the course for the future development of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. A crucial aspect of this partnership lies in friendly sub-national interaction. Since Beijing twinned with Gauteng 25 years ago, there has been a series of fruitful cooperation in areas such as economy and trade, science and technology, and people-to-people exchanges. At this new starting point, Beijing is willing to maintain close contact with Gauteng, align each other’s urban development strategies, and strengthen exchanges and mutual learning in urban governance. Beijing will also deepen economic and trade ties by encouraging two-way investment by enterprises from both places, promote interaction in education, culture, and tourism, as well as strengthen people-to-people exchanges, thus further cementing public support for the friendship between the two countries.

Lesufi spoke highly of Beijing’s socio-economic achievements and vitality in sci-tech innovation. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the sister city relationship, Gauteng is eager to further intensify bilateral cooperation in areas like urban planning, economy and trade, smart city, and green energy, and expand people-to-people exchanges for the sake of enhancing the friendship and well-being of the people of both places.

Tasneem Motara and Matome Chiloane, members of the Executive Committee of Gauteng, and Mu Peng, Secretary General of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, attended the meeting.

(Written by Yang Qi; Video by Chen Xing, Song Hengyu)