On April 20, Ambassador Chen Xiaodong met with South Africa's Minister of Electricity Mr. Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, to exchange views on how China could help South Africa to cope with the country’s electricity crisis.
Ambassador Chen said that China and South Africa share a special friendship of "comradeship plus brotherhood". This year, China-South Africa comprehensive strategic partnership is facing important opportunities to expand and deepen, as the two country are poised to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their diplomatic relations, and as South Africa is getting ready to host the 15th BRICS Summit. China feels for South Africa in meeting the challenges posed by electricity shortage, and is willing to provide South Africa with much-needed emergency support in the short term while deepening electricity cooperation in the long term in accordance with the important consensus of the two heads of state on strengthening energy cooperation. China is ready to discuss with South African side the support that could be provided, including electricity generation equipment, technical experts, technical consultation, personnel training, etc. The two sides also agree to work together to prepare China-SA New Energy Investment Cooperation Conference in June to encourage enterprises from both sides to engage in new energy cooperation projects.
Minister Ramokgopa thanked China for its strong support, which he said would be very helpful in alleviating South Africa’s electricity shortage problem. He said this represents yet another example of friendship between the two countries. South Africa has always regarded China as its most trustworthy friend, and is willing to take the opportunity of the 25th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic relations to promote greater advancement of bilateral relations. South Africa looks forward to learning from China's experience in electricity generation and management, and strengthening cooperation with China in this regard, in the hope of overcoming the electricity crisis at an early date.