South Africa and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tuesday to strengthen political and economic relations between the two countries.

The MoU was signed by Minister of Public Enterprises Malusi Gigaba at a bilateral meeting with Huang Shuhe, the Vice-Chairman of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of China in Johannesburg.

After the signing ceremony, Gigaba said, "In 2010, South Africa and China entered into a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership particularly to strengthen political and economic relations as well as to improve the current trade structure between the two countries. Today's meeting and MoU signing is an attempt the further to give impetus to this Comprehensive Strategic Partnership."

The MoU will see the two countries further cooperating in various arrears like the State-Owned Companies (SOC). Gigaba said state-owned enterprises are vital for the economic development of the two countries.

He expressed happiness on the existing political and economic relations between the two countries and said South Africa would want to see that growing.

"We must continue collectively to explore the value that we can derive from the BRICS economic partnership, leveraging off each other's strengths. Both our countries possess key SOC whose strengths can complement each other for the mutual benefit of both our countries," he said.

China and South Africa will continue examining on how the two countries can enhance their relations for the mutual benefit of both, said Gigaba. Some of the areas the two countries can cooperate in include s kills development, creation of new employment opportunities, improving access to basic services and reducing poverty.

Gigaba invited Chinese state enterprises to form joint ventures on the African continent, saying such partnerships would result in further investments in infrastructural development in Africa.