President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday hosted Chinese leader Xi Jinping at his Union Buildings offices in the capital Pretoria for a state visit in which the two will seek to strengthen relations between their countries ahead of a summit of the BRICS group which also includes Brazil, Russia and India.

Ramaphosa and Xi were received by a guard of honour and the South African leader introduced his China counterpart to members of his government ahead of the bilateral meeting, which the Presidency said was taking place within the context of strengthening political, economic and social ties.

Xi arrived at the Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria on Monday night, the first BRICS leader to arrive for the group's 10th summit to run on July 25-27 in the commercial hub of Johannesburg.

The Chinese president earler made a stop in Rwanda for a two-day state visit and signed at least 12 bilateral memorandums to strengthen cooperation, including on visa's with his counterpart Paul Kagame.