China urges UN to pay more attention to Africa
Chinese deputy permanent representative to the UN,Wang Min, made the remarks while addressing a plenary meeting of the 67th General Assembly on reviewing the annual report of the Security Council.
He urged the UN Security Council to pay more attention to the demands of Africa and support the efforts of the African Union in maintaining peace and security on the continent.
In the face of challenges in international peace and security, "we hope the Security Council would pay more attention to the demands of Africa and support the efforts of regional organizations such as the African Union in maintaining peace and security of the African Continent," said Wang.
The Security Council should make better use of its resources to prevent conflict and turmoil, reform and improve the UN peacekeeping mission, support post-conflict peacebuilding in order to make greater contribution to safeguarding international peace and security, he said.
On the issue of reforming the Security Council, Wang said China supports the Council in enhancing authority and efficiency through reasonable and necessary reforms.
The Council should give priority to increasing the representation of developing countries, those in Africa in particular, the ambassador said.
The reform should offer more opportunities to more countries, particularly small- and medium-sized countries, to serve in the Security Council on a rotating basis to participate in its decision-making process, he added.
The reform should resort to intergovernmental negotiations as the main channel and proceed orderly in the principles of openness, inclusiveness and transparency, Wang said, adding that ownership by the member states is the important principle guiding intergovernmental negotiations.
"Sticking to the principle of being driven by member states is both the prerequisite for the healthy development of the reform process and the guarantee for successful result of the reform," Wang said.
"Imposing any solution will make it impossible to accommodate, to the greatest extent, the legitimate concerns of the majority of the member states. Without a mandate of the member states, we should not allow any willful attempt to streamline the participation of the member states or to reduce the options for negotiations."
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South Africa: Government Launches Second Taxi Assembly Plant
Beijing Automobile Works SA, a joint venture involving China's fourth-biggest vehicle manufacturer and South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation called , has opened a minibus taxi assembly factory east of Johannesburg in a R196-million investment that moves the country one step closer to full manufacture of taxis.
"We see the assembly of taxis as a step towards full localisation and manufacture of taxis in South Africa," Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel said at the launch of the first phase of the new factory in Springs.
"It is envisaged that this project will not only supply the South African market, but also create export opportunities to the rest of Africa - a consumer base of one billion people on a continent registering some of the fastest growth rates in the global economy."
South Africa's minibus taxi market is currently dominated by the Toyota Ses'fikile, which has been assembled locally since July, when Toyota launched a R70-million minibus taxi assembly line at its factory in Durban.
According to Patel, these moves to localise the minibus manufacturing industry would see about two-thirds, or nearly 16 000, of the local demand for 23 000 new minibus taxis a year being assembled in South Africa.
Minister Patel said the Springs plant would create 470 jobs in its first phase, and more over the next few years as the company increased its level of localisation.
"This investment supports the New Growth Path goals of increased industrialisation and shifting South Africa away from reliance on imports of manufactured goods," Patel said.
He added that the skills development component of the project would include extensive training of employees by BAW over the first two years, as well as employees receiving training at BAW's plants in Beijing.
BAW South Africa chief executive James Chung said the project was one of the first significant investments by a Chinese vehicle manufacturer in South Africa's automotive industry.
The Springs factory will assemble the new 16-seater minibus taxis designed and developed under the international BAW brand. Chung said the vehicles would include a free two-year, 200 000-kilometre service plan to ensure that they were both affordable and safe.
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Africa Becomes Largest Chinese Medicine Export Market
Africa has become the largest export market for medicine made by China and one of the fastest-growing markets for Chinese medical products, a senior medical official said on Saturday at an ongoing import-export fair in south China's Guangdong Province.
Statistics released on Friday by the China Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Medicine & Health Products showed the value of medical products exported from China to Africa from January to September this year totaled 1.47 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 13.48 percent year on year.
The growth rate of exports to Africa was higher than that for European and North American markets in the same period.
"Africa now has a population of about 900 million, accounting for 12 percent of the whole world, so it has large demand for medical products," Cao Gang, director of CCCMHPIE, told Xinhua at the China Import and Export Fair in Guangzhou.
Chinese medical producers exporting medical products to Africa have played a great role in the African market in recent years, and China is changing the historical lack of medicine there, Cao said.
In fact, the volume of medicine that China imports to Africa is growing at a faster rate than the volume it is exporting to Southeast Asia, Mexico and Russia, according to the official.
Purchasers from Africa attending the fair said that the low prices and good quality of China's medical products were the major reason they chose to import.
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