South Africa and China will over the next few days participate in two BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] trade Ministers’ meetings.

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies, who arrived in China on Friday, is due to attend the Industry Ministers two-day meeting which gets underway in Hangzhou, the capital of China’s Zhejiang province on Saturday.

Following the conclusion of the Industry Ministers meeting, Minister Davies will participate in the Trade Ministers Meeting in Shanghai.

The meeting is scheduled for 1-2 August.

The meetings will discuss areas in which BRICS countries can enhance cooperation on issues related to trade and investment. The key areas of focus will be trade and investment facilitation, trade in services, intellectual property rights, economic and technical cooperation and the multilateral trading system.

“The BRICS platform provides an opportunity to promote the implementation of a practical trade and investment agenda among BRICS countries. In addition, the issues to be discussed in the BRICS trade ministers are critical in driving an inclusive trade and investment agenda. South Africa will chair BRICS in 2018,” said Minister Davies on Friday.

Last year, the Ministers’ meeting in India evaluated progress in the implementation of the Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership.

It also emphasised the need for strengthening the BRICS economic partnership and operationalisation of the Strategy to ensure greater participation, value addition and upward mobility in global value chains of BRICS firms including through the preservation of policy space to promote industrial development.

South Africa Today – South Africa News