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Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka to Co-host 4th Session
of South Africa - Sweden Binational Commission, Tshwane, South Africa, Tuesday,
29 - Wednesday, 30 November 2005 Tshwane - South African Deputy President
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka will today Tuesday 29 November 2005, together with her
Swedish counterpart, Deputy Prime Minister Bosse Ringholm, co-host the opening
plenary of the 4th session of the South Africa - Sweden Binational Commission
(BNC) in Tshwane, South Africa scheduled from Tuesday - Wednesday, 29-30 November
2005. This 4th session of the South Africa - Sweden Binational Commission
(BNC) comes within the context of South Africa's commitment to consolidate relations
with all countries of the North in the interests of expediting the achievement
of the developmental agenda of South, with particular reference to Africa, and
the Millennium Developments Goals. In this regard, the BNC consists of three
committees - Political Affairs, Economic Affairs and Social Affairs and Development
Co-operation chaired respectively by the Departments of Foreign Affairs, Trade
and Industry and National Treasury. In addition, the Political Committee
consists of a Peace and Security Working Group and a Defence Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) Committee. Issues on the agenda of discussions between the South Africa
and Swedish delegations are expected to include, among others: - The
status of bilateral political and economic relations between both countries;
- African
issues including the implementation of NEPAD, the revitalisation of SADC, the
status of EU-Africa dialogue and the EU-SADC dialogue, Nordic-Africa informal
consultations and the areas of conflict and post-conflict reconstruction viz.
the Great Lakes region, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sudan, Somalia, Uganda and
Zimbabwe;
- European issues including EU enlargement;
- International
issues including the situation in Iran, Iraq, Israel and Palestine and Syria;
and
- Multilateral issues of mutual concern including the comprehensive
reform of the United Nations.
While in South Africa, Deputy Prime
Minister Ringholm is expected to be briefed by Dan Moyo, Deputy Director General:
2010 World Cup Unit in the Department of Sports and Recreation and visit Cape
Town where he will, among others, hold discussions with representatives of the
Institute of Justice and Reconciliation, visit Robben Island and participate in
the Volvo Yacht Exhibition. Deputy Prime Minister Ringholm will depart from
South Africa on Friday, 2 December 2005. Bilateral Economic Relations
between South Africa and Sweden Exports to Sweden for the period January
to December 2004 amounted to R1.2 billion, while imports from Sweden for the same
period amounted to R4.1 billion. SA Exports to Sweden
| Year | SA
Exports to Sweden | | 2000 | R1
046 906 000 | | 2001 | R
633 097 000 | | 2002 | R
751 069 000 | | 2003 | R
820 345 000 | | 2004 | R1
200 414 000 | | 2005 (Jan-May) | R
644 761 000 |
SA Imports from Sweden
| Year | SA
Imports from Sweden | | 2000 | R2
902 935 000 | | 2001 | R2
597 472 000 | | 2002 | R3
337 698 000 | | 2003 | R3
356 685 000 | | 2004 | R4
113 526 000 | | 2005 (Jan-May) | R2
241 163 000 |
Source: Department of Trade and Industry One
of the key objectives of the Swedish government's development co-operation strategy
with South Africa is the development of economic co-operation between the two
countries. To this end, the Sweden International Development Agency (SIDA) and
the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) established the Swedish South Africa
Business Partnership Fund (SSBF) in 1999 to promote business to business co-operation
between Swedish and South African companies, targeting primarily small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) in both countries. Tourism One of the largest
travel agencies in Sweden started promoting package tours to South Africa with
effect from 1 October 2002. The growth in Swedish tourists visiting South Africa
is expected to increase in the near future and tourism from Sweden to South Africa
has been rising steadily over the past few years. Number of Swedish
Tourists to South Africa | Year | Number
of Swedish Tourists to South Africa | | 2001 | 18
576 | | 2002 | 23
927 | | 2003 |
29 381 | | 2004 | 32
247 |
(Source: South African Tourism) Development
Co-operation The Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA)
has a long history of involvement with South and Southern Africa through its assistance
and support to the liberation movements. At over a billion rand since 1994,
Sweden ranks amongst the top five donors operating in South Africa since 1994.
This amount is purely bilateral ODA and therefore excludes Sweden's share in the
development programmes of the European Union, UN agencies and other multilateral
institutions. SIDA is engaged in a process with the Budget Office of the National
Treasury to prepare a project related to public financial management reform and
poverty reduction. SIDA has a number of smaller Agreements that operate
under the Overall Agreement on Development Co-operation. These allow Sweden to
jointly manage development co-operation to South Africa, with the International
Development Co-operation (IDC) section within National Treasury as the key partner
on the South African side. Sweden adopted a new country strategy for South
Africa at the end of 2003. The country strategy will be guided by South Africa's
development priorities, as articulated in the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement,
the President's State of the Nation address, the cabinet lekgotla and the Estimates
of National Expenditure. Issued by Ronnie Mamoepa on 082 990 4853 Department
of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Tshwane
0001 29 November
2005
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