South African alumnus of BIT Interviewed by Xinhua News Agency

05/29 News report

Interviews

South African 2015 undergraduates of BIT interviewed by Xinhua News Agency

The 2019 South African alumnus of BIT, Mopo Modis, is currently working at Huawei in South Africa, mainly responsible for promoting Huawei's high-quality wireless network products and solving technical problems in network communication. In an interview with Xinhua News Agency recently, Mopo Modis said: "There are many Chinese projects in South Africa, which provide many employment opportunities for young people and also drive the growth of South Africa's economy."

BRICS countries contributing to world economic recovery

Xinhuanet, Beijing, June 29 (Reporter Wei Mengjia)In the Yeda Industrial Park in the Greater Inoda region of Uttar Pradesh, India, Phase I of the vivo India Industrial Park project undertaken by the Third Construction Co., Ltd of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau is speeding up construction.

This Sino-Indian key project is the first mobile phone manufacturing plant of Chinese smartphone brand Vivo Group in India, with a total construction area of 258,000 square meters. When completed in June next year, its annual output of smartphones will reach 120 million units, which will provide 15,000 jobs in India and boost the local economy.

The project is a microcosm of BRICS cooperation. In April last year, the project manager, Xie Yongdong, a 35-year-old Sichuan native, led the project members to India under the severe epidemic situation in India, and worked with local employees to promote the resumption of work and production.

Xie Yongdong guiding the construction against the drawings at the project site (photo provided by the interviewee)

In his view, BRICS cooperation will bring prospects to the economic recovery of member states under the severe global epidemic. "As an enterprise, we hope that in the post-epidemic era, the BRICS countries can unite to warm up, strengthen cooperation between enterprises, stimulate industrial development momentum, and benefit each other's enterprises and people better."

As an important platform for cooperation between emerging markets and developing countries, over the past 16 years, the BRICS countries have continuously deepened their practical cooperation and made important contributions to world’s economic and financial stability. At present, BRICS countries account for 25% of the world's total economic volume, 18% of the world’s trade volume and 25% of the world’s foreign investment.

"BRICS is a new engine for world’s economic recovery and strong growth. Its contribution rate to world economic growth exceeds 50%, much higher than that of G7 and other developed economies," said Wang Wen, Executive Dean of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China.

A report recently released by the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of Renmin University of China shows that over the years, trade cooperation among BRICS countries has become increasingly close. According to World Bank data, the total trade volume between the BRICS countries increased from US$104 billion in 2006 to US$394.2 billion in 2019; from 2020 to 2021, the total trade volume between China and other BRICS countries alone will reach US$490.42 billion, a 39.2% increase over 2020.

In 2021, all five BRICS countries will achieve positive economic growth, contributing an important force to the recovery of the world economy. Among them, China's GDP increased by 8.1% over the previous year, with an average growth rate of 5.1% in the two years, ranking among the top among the world's major economies; the total economic volume reached 114.4 trillion yuan, steadily ranking the second largest economy in the world.

The vivo India Industrial Park project under construction has benefited local people. Karim, a 47-year-old Indian engineer who was hired last year, is now the civil works foreman at the project's construction site. He is from a northern province of India, and his family has 8 people, including 3 children, and the financial burden is very heavy.

He said that due to the impact of the epidemic last year, many companies have not resumed work, and it is difficult to find jobs. After coming to the Indian Industrial Park project, he received a living allowance of 5,000 rupees in addition to 45,000 rupees per month. "This job has greatly relieved the pressure on my family and gave me strength to live."

Even under the influence of the epidemic, China-Africa trade has shown strong resilience. Among them, China has been South Africa's largest trading partner for 13 consecutive years. Last year, the trade volume between both countries increased to US$54.35 billion, a year-on-year increase of 50.7%. South Africa is also one of the largest investment destinations for Chinese companies in Africa. By the end of last year, China's cumulative investment in South Africa exceeded US$25 billion. Over 200 Chinese-funded enterprises in South Africa have created more than 400,000 local jobs.

Chinese Ambassador to South Africa, Chen Xiaodong previously stated that while China is cooperating with South Africa to fight against the epidemic, China actively supports South Africa's economic recovery and promotes the stability of South Africa's production and supply chains. In the next three years, more than 100 Chinese-funded enterprises have pledged to provide 20,000 direct jobs in South Africa, covering infrastructure, electronic communications, mining equipment, automobile manufacturing, agricultural processing and other fields. For example, Huawei South Africa will provide 450 jobs. .

Mopo Modis, 27, is a product engineer at Huawei South Africa. He studied at the School of Automation, Beijing Institute of Technology. After graduation, he returned to China and joined Huawei South Africa. Now he has been working for more than a year.

Mopo Modis introducing 5G product applications at Huawei South Africa (photo courtesy of the interviewee)

"Affected by the epidemic, many companies in South Africa are working from home, which requires a stable network and also increases my workload." Modis said that since his work, he has been busy introducing high-quality wireless network products to customers and helping them solve network communication problems.

In his view, South Africans have great demand for various Chinese-made daily commodities, and there are many Chinese projects in South Africa, which provide many employment opportunities for young people and also drive the growth of South Africa's economy. "South Africa and China have close relations and are a model for BRICS cooperation, and the prospects for future economic and trade cooperation are very broad."

"The BRICS countries are an important force in the world economy that cannot be ignored." Li Yang, a professor at the School of International Relations at the University of International Business and Economics, said that in the future, BRICS countries can deepen practical cooperation in key areas such as poverty alleviation, technological innovation, low-carbon transformation, and digital economy, improve the quality of economic development, and enhance their position and role in the global industrial chain, value chain, and supply chain. At the same time, it is necessary to build and improve the "BRICS+" cooperation mechanism, with the BRICS as the leader, to create a new platform for developing countries' pragmatic cooperation, and to enhance the influence of developing countries in the global economy.