On behalf of the government and the people of South Africa, I wish to express my personal gratitude and that of my Department, for the warm manner in which we were received, ever since we arrived.
Minister Hejun, thank you also for the kind invitation to the Second Belt and Road Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology. I really look forward to participating in this prestigious Conference.
The geopolitical context for SA-China STI cooperation
Firstly, this year's Belt and Road Conference takes place against the backdrop of a deeply concerning geopolitical context, which is characterised by among others, unprecedented levels of global inequality and poverty and the persistence of armed conflict in some parts of the world.
Our global context is a now also defined a new set of complex problems such as the growing reality of the negative impact of climate change, the reality of pandemics and the need to build credible pandemic preparedness capacity, the threat of cyber-attacks and in particular data theft.
Then there is also the growing push towards unipolarity in some regions. This has manifested in among others the funding cuts for research by the Trump administration affecting critical joint research projects. In response to this, I have established a Working Group to advise me on the implications of these funding cut for our public funding system.
Informed by the lessons of our own fight against colonialism and apartheid and the development imperatives of our democracy- South Africa remains committed to making its contribution towards a global order that is underpinned by multilateralism and a respect for the sovereignty of all nations, big and small.
In this connection, we believe that science and scientific knowledge in particular, must be deliberately harnessed and mobilised towards the building of a more humane and just world.
For this reason, it is our firm believe that science or scientists can never neutral or complicit in the justices that are committed against countries or people, anywhere in the world. Like it is said, Science knows no borders.
The importance of SA-China relations
Secondly, South Africa and China enjoy a solid and long-standing relationship of science, technology, and innovation cooperation and through this visit, we seek to strengthen our STI cooperation with the People’s Republic of China and to ensure that this cooperation continues to yield the kind of results that help our two countries to address their core development priorities.
In this respect, I therefore wish to thank the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology for its support and contribution towards the realisation of these nine priority action areas which we as Ministers agreed to in September last year.
Just to remind ourselves, I now wish to briefly reflect on the progress made in these (9) nine priority action areas.
On the initiative for international cooperation in open science
Our two Ministries are collaborating productively with other international partners including the African Union and Brazil to prepare an Action Plan for this Initiative, which as you would recall, was launched in 2024, with the objective of having Presidents XI and Ramaphosa to announce the Action Plan at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in November in South Africa.
On the Beidou Global Navigation Satellite System
The collaboration between the South African National Space Agency and various Chinese partners such as the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is rapidly progressing, including the hosting of ground segment support for Chinese space science platforms in South Africa such as Beidou. As part of my delegation, we have official from our space. Agency who are going to be meeting their counterparts to work on this relationship.
On energy research and innovation: A delegation of South African technical experts visited the National Institute of Clean-and-Low-Carbon Energy (NICE). I had also visited this facility in September.
The purpose of the visit by our technical experts was to prepare for a comprehensive partnership with South Africa involving our entities the Council for Industrial and Scientific Research (CSIR) and the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA).
On Artificial Intelligence: As I understand it, the intent is for us as the two Ministers to sign a Letter of Intent to advance comprehensive cooperation on AI research and innovation including the establishment of the Joint Research Centre on AI.
Our officials undertook a very productive visit to the Beijing Academy for Artificial Intelligence, who are keen to work with South Africa.
On Science Parks: Our senior officials will draw on its engagements during the Belt and Road Forum to develop an action plan to relaunch the South Africa – China Science Park initiative.
On Poverty Alleviation: Cooperation under this MoU was signed in 2023 and is progressing very well with projects being implemented in the field of agriculture for sustainable livelihoods.
On the SKA and Astronomy: South Africa and China continue collaborate closely on the SKA project, and on Thursday, I will be speaking on this partnership at the Big Science Forum of the Belt and Road Conference.
On the Young Scientists Exchange Programme: A group South African and Chinese young scientists will embark on exchange visits during the second half of the year.
On joint Funding of Research and Innovation: As agreed, the volume of cooperation has been doubled with the publication of a new call for proposals under the South Africa – China Joint Research Programme, which will see the annual number of projects funded increased to 30 projects, as well as 2 large-scale flagship projects.
This is the progress update from the South African perspective. I am certain that a (10) tenth priority area could be added during the signing of the Traditional Medicine Letter of Intent.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Minister Hejun, I am greatly pleased with the progress that we have made in the implementation of the action items that you and I agreed to. I believe that this progress further solidifies the long-standing cooperation between our two countries.
On behalf of our government, I also wish to use this opportunity to thank the People's Republic of China for supporting South Africa’s progressive G20 agenda.
I look forward to hosting you Minister, in September in South Africa for our G20 Ministerial Meeting. I particularly look forward to taking you to our SKA site- which as you are aware is one our country's most historic and prestigious scientific projects of the post 1994 era.
Thank you.
