A week ahead of the second annual gathering of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (Focac), in Johannesburg, the JSE is rolling out the proverbial red carpet for Chinese investors looking to Africa’s largest bourse for possible investment opportunities, calling attention to South Africa’s sophisticated financial services sector, leading auditing and governance credentials and African gateway status.

With participation from 36 heads of State, five heads of government, three vice premiers and the chief of the African Union Commission, several Sino-Africa agreements on economic ties, trade, investment and cultural links were expected to be signed during the event being held from December 4 to 5.

The summit would also review the implementation of various agreements signed since 2006.

This as Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Ming remarked in the run-up to the summit this week that China would announce a package of initiatives aimed at accelerating Africa's industrialisation and agricultural modernisation, as well as its industrial cooperation with China at the forthcoming Johannesburg meeting.

Chinese President Xi Jinping would, meanwhile, deliver a speech at the opening ceremony and cochair the plenary conference alongside South African President Jacob Zuma.

International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said the summit would elevate the China–Africa relationship and give impetus to Africa's developmental agenda.

“[This will] send a message that China–Africa cooperation will help Africa fulfil the dream of industrialisation and economic integration,” she said in a statement.

Addressing a South African and Chinese media delegation at the JSE on Friday, JSE capital markets director Donna Oosthusye described the forum as an example of “South–South cooperation” that had yielded important trade ties and had seen trade volumes between South Africa and China grow from $10-billion to  $220-billion in its 15 years of existence.

Chinese investment into Africa had grown from $500-million to over $220-billion over the same period, she asserted, laying the foundation for further investment into the continent.

“With China the second-largest economy in the world and set to become the largest, and Africa home to the largest number of emerging markets, there are great opportunities for win-win [trade and investment] relationships.

“This theme also plays out well into world capital markets,” she commented.

Oosthusye believed increased cooperation between Asian capital markets, facilitated through the Hong Kong-, Shanghai- and Johannesburg-based stock exchanges, would further boost China–Africa trade and funding flows.

“For the JSE, investment is our lifeblood and a key priority [for us] is to position South Africa and Africa as a viable, competitive investment destination for trade and investment.

“As the largest exchange in Africa, we are well positioned in the value chain and we want to participate in the pursuit of a win-win relationship with China,” she remarked, referencing the Focac summit’s theme ‘Africa-China Progressing Together: Win-Win Cooperation for Common Development’.

While unable to quantify the value of Chinese investment into companies represented by the Johannesburg bourse, she did not believe it to be “too significant”.

“But just as we have seen trade increase over recent years, we expect a similar level of growth in investment as the 3 000 Chinese companies active on the continent look to the public markets for capital to expand their businesses,” Oosthuyse held.

Further punting the benefits of investment through the JSE, she said the local exchange offered a deep, liquid market, no exchange controls for foreign funders and a high level of participation from international investors.

It also acted as a proxy for other markets in Africa that did not have stock exchanges.

“Our exchange is a bit of an untold story and we’ll continue to work with the Asian exchanges to encourage local investment,” she said.

In an effort to showcase local industrial South Africa–China cooperation in action, journalists were, following the JSE address on Friday, provided a tour of the Beijing Automotive Works (BAW) plant, in Springs.

The local arm of Chinese company BAW, BAW South Africa, cut the ribbon on the R200-million taxi assembly plant in 2012 following an equity contribution of R22.9-million from the Industrial Development Corporation.

The media tour was organised by Brand South Africa, in partnership with the departments of International Relations and Cooperation, Trade and Industry, and Science and Technology, as well as the JSE, the Gauteng Tourism Authority and the National Research Foundation.