Vice-premier Wang Yang and State Councilor Yang Jiechi met with South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane on Sept 4.

During the meeting, Wang said China and South Africa enjoy broad prospect of cooperation. He called on both sides to earnestly implement both presidents’ consensus, taking the opportunity of the first meeting of the China-South Africa inter-ministerial joint working group to promote cooperation on trade, investment, infrastructure, finance and other areas.

According to the presidents’ consensus, this year is the Year of South Africa in China and 2015 is the Year of China in South Africa.

State Councilor Yang Jiechi (R) meets with South African International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane in Beijing, China, Sept 4, 2014.[Photo/Xinhua]

In a separate meeting, Yang said China and South Africa have conducted effective cooperation, coordinated well on international affairs and safeguarded the common interests of developing countries.

China is willing to work with South Africa to turn the bilateral relationship into a model of unity and cooperation between major developing countries, Yang said.

Nkoana-Mashabane, who was here to co-chair the first meeting of the working group, said South Africa would like to deepen cooperation with China on areas like politics, economic and trade, culture and people-to-people exchanges, as well as enhance communication, coordination and cooperation on international and African affairs.