South Africa's Absa group to open office in Beijing

JOHANNESBURG, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's Absa Group, a Johannesburg-based leading pan-African bank, has announced that it will open a non-banking subsidiary in Beijing, the capital of China, to foster new opportunities between Africa and China.

The non-banking subsidiary is now open but will be officially launched in Beijing on May 8, said Arrie Rautenbach, the chief executive officer of Absa Group, Wednesday at a ceremony in Johannesburg.

"We're thrilled to add our office in China to our global footprint. Today's announcement reinforces our ambition to grow our international strategy, particularly as China is such a strategically important market for Africa. Our expansion into this dynamic market represents an exciting opportunity to unlock new avenues of growth and prosperity for Africa and China," said Rautenbach.

While attending the ceremony, Chinese Ambassador to South Africa Chen Xiaodong congratulated Absa Group on the establishment of its office in Beijing.

Chen said that he believes this venture demonstrates the importance the group attaches to the Chinese market and its confidence in investing in China, and speaks volumes to the sustained rapid development of China-South Africa relations and the deepening of the bilateral financial cooperation in recent years.

South Africa's Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said at the ceremony that this is an important step for Absa to go global, and points to the future strategic direction for Africa's development, stressing the importance the South African government attaches to cooperation with China.

South Africa will continue to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China, encourage capable South African enterprises to explore the Chinese market, and welcome Chinese companies to invest in South Africa, Godongwana said.