Chinese enterprises hold Job Fair 2022 in South Africa

Chinese Ambassador Chen Xiaodong address the job fair. (People's Daily Online/Chang Liu)

JOHANNESBURG, April 17 (People’s Daily Online) -- Chinese enterprises in South Africa held Job Fair 2022, which aims to offer job opportunities to local residents in Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa, attracting over 1,000 job seekers to the event on April 14, 2022.

In his speech, Chinese Ambassador Chen Xiaodong said that the Job Fair is a concrete initiative and effort to implement the consensus reached between Chinese and South African presidents. For instance, this event has set its aims on achieving win-win results. It not only creates jobs for South Africans, but also provides an opportunity for Chinese enterprises to hire local talents and pursue localized development. Chinese-invested enterprises have pledged to provide 20,000 jobs directly to South Africans in the next three years in support of the African country’s socioeconomic development, writing wonderful chapters in China-South African win-win cooperation and common development.

According to Chen, by the end of 2021, China's investment in South Africa totaled over 25 billion US dollars, which has created over 400,000 local jobs.

Thulas Nxesi, South African President’s Special Representative and Minister of Employment and Labor thanked the Chinese side for making this event happen. He hailed the job fair as a new milestone for China-South Africa friendship as it brought hope in helping to reverse the low level of economic growth and high unemployment rate in South Africa. He expressed his wishes that Chinese enterprises might pursue stronger cooperation with their South African counterparts in order to create much-needed job opportunities and help eliminate unemployment and poverty.

Alvin Botes, Deputy Minister of South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), said that the job fair demonstrates China’s efforts to support South Africa’s objectives in eradicating the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality, and provides evidence of the depth of the two sides’  comprehensive strategic partnership. The friendship between China and South Africa has gone beyond political and diplomatic engagements, and has yielded fruitful "win-win" outcomes in economic and social cooperation, which has delivered benefits to the two peoples.

Chen Longjian, Executive Vice President of the South Africa-China Economy and Trade Association, said that Chinese enterprises have invested in a wide range of industries in South Africa. The job fair is also characterized by diverse positions with highly technological content that involves highly specialized fields, laying a solid foundation for South Africa to cultivate and build up its reserve of all kinds of talents. The Association is committed to making the job fair a well-known long-term event that can continue to provide more jobs for South African job seekers as well as boosting the local economy.

Representatives of employees working at COSCO shipping company and candidates applying for jobs at the fair were also given a voice on the podium. They spoke about their personal experiences and thanked China for helping South Africa fight against the pandemic and strive for its post-COVID economic recovery. They praised Chinese enterprises’ outstanding achievements in localization, which has been deeply felt by many families in South Africa. Moreover, they were charmed by Chinese culture and were able to develop a global vision while working at Chinese companies.

Ambassador Chen and the two ministers witnessed the signing of cooperation agreements between the South Africa-China Economy and Trade Association and the Training Department of South Africa Higher Education Department, as well as visiting the booths of different companies and witnessing the signing of job contracts between Chinese enterprises and South African youths.

Nearly 1,300 participants, including government officials, representatives from the South Africa-China Economy and Trade Association, representatives of Chinese enterprises, students from local universities and vocational colleges, job applicants, as well as Chinese and foreign journalists attended the fair. The job fair was streamed live via YouTube and other social media platforms, attracting nearly 50,000 views.