The China-South Africa Smart and Secure Trade Lane (SSTL) pilot route was launched at Xiamen Port in east China's Fujian Province on Sunday, marking China's first SSTL route established with a BRICS member country.
This 28-day shipping route connects Xiamen with Durban Port in South Africa.
As the first pilot shipment on this new route, a batch of IP phones and video conference terminals valued at 5.254 million yuan (about 730,000 U.S. dollars) cleared customs at Dongdu Customs in Xiamen and was loaded onto a cargo ship bound for South Africa on the same day.
Companies participating in the pilot enjoy priority customs clearance in both China and South Africa. Once inspected by the exporting country's customs, goods are generally exempt from import re-inspection, greatly streamlining logistics and cutting compliance costs. By doing this, pilot companies report over 60 percent improvement in clearance efficiency.
Xiamen Port now operates 24 BRICS shipping routes connected to 20 ports in six BRICS countries. This new route establishes an efficient trade channel between Xiamen and South Africa, further integrating the city into the broader BRICS cooperation framework.
China launches first smart, secure trade route to BRICS countries
The Chinese Embassy in South Africa on Monday held an event in Pretoria, the country's administrative capital, to celebrate the launch of the 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges.
This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and African countries.
Chinese Ambassador to South Africa Wu Peng said that over the past seven decades, under the joint guidance of leaders from both sides, China-Africa people-to-people and cultural exchanges have continued to expand, yielding fruitful outcomes.
Noting that the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, Wu said China and Africa need to uphold fairness and justice, strengthen solidarity and mutual assistance, and enhance exchanges and cooperation more than ever before.
Taking the launch of the China-Africa Year of People-to-people Exchanges as an opportunity, Wu called for upholding the original aspiration of friendship, solidifying the foundation of cooperation, enhancing two-way efforts, and accelerating the building of an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.
Mmapaseka Steve Letsike, South Africa's deputy minister of women, youth, and persons with disabilities, said South Africa and China enjoy strong and historic bonds of friendship as close international cooperation partners in the political, economic, social, technical and multilateral domains.
"The significance of people-to-people is really about how we elevate the people's life to a just and equitable stance that we want to see. We want a better Africa; we want a better world. And that for us is significant," said Letsike.
"Through people-to-people exchanges, we promote mutual understanding, and that is the basis of building mutual trust, building peaceful coexistence. People-to-people exchange is a very important instrument for peace and mutual understanding," said Bongani Maimele, director of international relations with South Africa's National School of Government.
The opening ceremony of the 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges was held at the African Union headquarters on Jan 8. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the two sides will jointly host nearly 600 cultural and people-to-people exchange activities in 2026 to enhance exchanges and mutual learning between the two civilizations, and promote mutual understanding and connection between the peoples.
Organizing the 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges is an important consensus reached by leaders from both sides at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Summit in 2024.
Chinese Embassy in South Africa unveils 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges
