Hopewell Radebe
6 November 2009
Pretoria — Deputy International Relations Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim yesterday defended SA's growing trade relations with China at the department's annual conference on foreign policy, saying China had an unchallenged policy of funding infrastructure as a means of benefiting the African states it traded with.
He told delegates who questioned the wisdom of trading with China at the expense of SA's traditional European partners that there was hardly a western or European country that did not trade with China.
"Our trade and diplomatic relations with China do not mean that we have abandoned the US or our European partners. It would be a naive and futile exercise ... to ignore China when everyone, including the Americans, has established special relations with it for their economic development," he said.
Ebrahim said SA's national interest was what would benefit its people and advance its domestic agenda in line with the goals it has set itself.
He said every African state was eager to improve trade relations with China because Beijing was making sure that there was some sort of beneficiation through infrastructure development .
"We now have the option of negotiating the best possible deal for the development of our people from those who want our raw resources," he said.
Adviser in the Presidency Eddie Maloka said African states were responsible for their individual foreign trade policies . He said the continent was unlikely to put similar conditions and demands to foreign companies wanting to invest. Companies were approaching countries individually, based on their assessment of a country's regulatory environment and political stability, and then negotiated a best possible deal with an aim of "getting as much profit out of a deal as possible".
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