South Africa : South Africa and Spain to increase visits by business delegations

Pretoria - The South African and the Spanish governments have agreed on concrete steps such as increasing visits by business delegations to further enhance their mutually beneficial relationship.

This was agreed at the Fifth SA-Spain Annual Consultations on Friday, where the Spanish Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Angel Lossada together with his delegation met with Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Sue van der Merwe to boost political, economic and trade links between the countries.

"The meeting of the two ministers reaffirmed the strategic partnership between South Africa and Spain and their shared commitment to the values of democracy and good governance, peace and security and development on the African continent," Ms Van der Merwe told reporters after their meeting which was held at the Presidential Guesthouse.

The two ministers agreed that this augured well for the future development of economic relations.

According to joint communiqué, it was agreed, among others, that the two governments would actively encourage visits by business delegations.
This as the economic relations between the two countries had grown rapidly recently, with total trade amounting to about R19 billion. It had doubled over the past four years and was heavily in South Africa's favour.

"We have also invited more Spanish companies to actively explore investment opportunities in South African sectors such as construction, agro-food processing and tourism and hospitality," said Ms Van der Merwe.

The two countries also exchanged views concerning the current global financial crisis and the implications for their economies.

"As Spain we recognise the leading role of the South African economy on the African continent and have an interest in establishing joint venture activities with South Africa on the continent," the Spanish Secretary said.

On political relations, both parties have agreed to establish an informal dialogue at the technical level to explore avenues of collaboration in the aforesaid initiatives and fora.

In order to facilitate the flow of information between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain and the Department of Foreign Affairs of South Africa, the communiqué said it was agreed that both sides will carry out an exchange of experts whereby a South African expert will be deployed at the Spanish MAEC and visa versa.

"Such an exchange could be carried out annually, to provide with a solid link for the flow of information and collaboration between the two Departments," explained Ms van der Merwe.

South Africa also presented a briefing on the latest developments in conflicts on the African continent such as those in Sudan and Darfur, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zimbabwe.

Both delegations expressed their concern on the socio-economic situation in Zimbabwe and will continue to follow developments actively.

Further, they also stressed the importance of effective multilateralism and the indispensable role of the United Nations in solving global problems.

The parties emphasised that the United Nations should be strengthened through reform to enable it to better deliver on its mandates.

"They agreed that reform should also lead to the democratisation of key UN institutions, including the Security Council, in order to allow the participation of more countries in decision-making," reads the communiqué.

The SA-Spain Annual Consultations serves as the main forum for bilateral exchanges between South Africa and Spain.

It was established in terms of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between South Africa and Spain in December 2000 and provides the legal framework for bilateral consultations and cooperation.

The consultation also served as the main forum for bilateral exchanges between South Africa and Spain. - BuaNews