Chairperson, I like the term comrade because comrade is a brother, a friend, an ally, a fighter. [Laughter.] It is all those wonderful things. So, when somebody says comrade to me, it really tickles me. [Interjections.] It does tickle me.
Hon Mohai, yes, the important thing for us is to make sure that we consolidate our alliances with those that we share common views and vision with. In this case, China as part of Brics, happens to be falling in that category. We not only do that because we also belong to Brics, but also because we have the same views and objectives and
subscribe to the principles of a multilateral system in the world and the rules-based system where we are able to co-operate and collaborate more effectively in multilateral organisations and share views, and where there is no unilateralism.
When it comes to how we can further boost our own economic growth situation, obviously, we look forward to the associations that we have around the world and Brics is one of those. Indeed, the Africa Free Trade Area Agreement stands out as one that is going to be beneficial to South Africa in the form of helping us to further industrialise or to reindustrialise. What this does is that it opens up the market of almost $3 trillion where we have the platform, foundation and capability to play in.
We are more industrialised than our sister countries on the continent and we believe that we can, as we trade together - they trading with us and us trading with them - exchange knowledge, technologies and even investments. We would like to see them investing in South Africa and us investing in their countries and the rest of the continent. We would like to see them build factories elsewhere on the continent, making goods that can be traded throughout the entire continent.
So, we see this as a great opportunity for South Africa, our companies and our government to sharpen its own diplomatic capability, as we deal with other countries. In many ways that is what fuelled our decision to send envoys into the rest of the continent, following the events of the past few weeks in our own country.
We were seeking to reposition ourselves as a trusted partner that can deal with the continent at a number of levels. Obviously, our intention is to protect our own interests as a nation and a country but as we do so, we also want to promote the interest of the rest of the continent. It is for that reason that we were able to enter into this free trade agreement, so that we can work together with the rest of the countries on our continent. Thank you. [Applause.]