Pretoria -
South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka will depart on Monday 16
October 2006 for Australia and New Zealand where she is expected to pay an official
visit scheduled from 16-21 October 2006 with a view to strengthening political,
economic, cultural and trade links with both countries.
Deputy President
Mlambo-Ngcuka will hold discussions with her counterparts Deputy Prime Ministers
Mark Vaile in Australia and Michael Cullen in New Zealand. During the visit, Deputy
President Mlambo-Ngcuka is expected to pay courtesy calls on both Prime Minister
Howard in Canberra and Prime Minister Helen Clark in New Zealand.
Deputy
President Mlambo-Ngcuka visit to the region comes within the context of promoting
South Africa's Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative (AsgiSA) and the Joint
Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) programmes with a view to a
faster and shared economic growth in SA whilst strengthening and consolidating
political and economic relations with the two countries.
In this regard,
Deputy President Mlambo-Ngcuka will also during the visit explore opportunities
for partnerships between South Africa and two countries with a view to Infrastructure
development; sector investment (or industrial) strategies; skills and education
initiatives; second economy interventions; macro-economic issues; and public administration
issues.
In addition, the visit will also afford the Deputy President with
an opportunity to interact with other key political, economic and trade role-players.
Deputy
President's visit to Australia also takes place against the background of the
scheduled session of the SA-Australia Joint Ministerial Commission on the 18th
of October, which will be co-chaired by Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Mandisi
Mpahlwa and his Australian counterpart, Minister Warren Truss.
Deputy President
Mlambo-Ngcuka is expected to return to South Africa on Saturday 21 October 2006.
Bilateral
Economic Relations
Australia
South Africa's economic relations
with Australia are excellent. Australia is South Africa's third largest trading
partner in Asia, after Japan and the People's Republic of China (PRC), and seventh
largest trading partner globally. South Africa is Australia's biggest trading
partner on the African continent. Fifty percent of Australian exports to Africa
are earmarked for South Africa. Similarities in sectors such as the wine industry,
mining technology and equipment, and automotive components, to name but a few,
give rise to numerous joint venture/bilateral trade opportunities.
South
Africa is Australia's 19th largest trading partner and is by far Australia's largest
and most dynamic market in Africa. Australian exports to South Africa were mainly
coal, crude petroleum and nickel; and South African exports to Australia were,
notably passenger motor vehicles (mostly BMW 3 Series vehicles) worth $A554 million,
as well as furniture, pig iron, paper and textile products.
Two-way investment
flows between Australia and South Africa have expanded since the demise of the
apartheid system. South Africa dominates stocks of African investment into Australia
(currently the 17th largest foreign investor - up from 23rd in 1993-1994). Australian
investment in South Africa has also increased - mainly in mining, mining equipment,
agriculture, agribusiness and infrastructure and services and trade - and dominates
Australian investment into Africa
Development Co-Operation
Even
though Asia and the Pacific Islands constitute Australia's foreign policy priority,
it is also investing substantial amounts of money into the African region, by
means of foreign direct investments as well as overseas development assistance
(ODA). South Africa receives priority when it comes to development co-operation
and assistance with Australia providing approximately R480 million in development
assistance to South Africa since 1994.
Development co-operation between
South Africa and Australia is manifested in a bilateral strategic programme, which
focuses Australian assistance more tightly on South Africa and Mozambique in Southern
Africa, with Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in East Africa, benefiting from, international
and NGO programmes.
Trade Statistics In Rand Value
Trade
with Australia
Year
2003
2004
2005
SA
Exports
R 5,723,886,000
R
7,157,620,000
R 9,704,431,000
SA
Imports
R 6,112,773,000
R
7,247,278,000
R 7,353,296,000
Balance
R -388,887,000
R
-89,658,000
R 2,351,135,000
Total
Trade
R 11,836,659,000
R
14,404,898,000
R 17,057,727,000
New
Zealand
South Africa is New Zealand's primary market in sub-Saharan
Africa, given its unique combination of a first-world economic infrastructure
and large emerging market economy. The gradual opening of the South African economy
to international competition and the stable and well managed political and macro-economic
environment, is viewed as offering potential investors a profitable base from
which to launch their Southern Africa operations.
Since 1990, bilateral
trade has increased nine-fold to the point where South Africa is currently New
Zealand's 33rd most important export market and 18th most important source of
visitors. In 2004, New Zealand exported goods to the value of $101.7 million to
South Africa, and purchased $129.2 million worth of South African products.
The
main exports are milk and cream, cheese, curd and mutton. The major import is
wine.
As a consequence of the developing dairy product market in Southern
African countries, the New Zealand Dairy Board opened an office in Johannesburg
in 1992. New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) has representation in Johannesburg.
A New Zealand-South Africa Business Council has been established in New Zealand
to promote trade and economic linkages with South Africa.
Trade Statistics
In Rand Value
Trade with New Zealand
Year
2003
2004
2005
SA
Exports
R 432,261,000
R
644,840,000
R 661,002,000
SA
Imports
R 486,602,000
R
545,102,000
R 723,496,000
Balance
R -54,341,000
R
99,738,000
R 62,494,000
Total
Trade
R 918,863,000
R
1,189,942,000
R 1,384,498,000
Official
Development Assistance (ODA)
ODA programme funding is currently directed
to NGOs in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique through UN agencies. In 2004, an amount
of NZ$420 million was channelled to Southern African countries through multilateral
institutions. South Africa remained the key focus and recipient of New Zealand
ODA in Africa. During the past five (5) years, an annual amount of NZ$1.65 million
has been committed to HIV/AIDS community awareness activities and on education
programmes in KwaZulu- Natal and the Eastern Cape. A further focus of engagement
has targeted the exchange of professional skills and knowledge in such areas as
town planning, land disputes and early education learning programmes.
Issued
by Ronnie Mamoepa on 082 990 4853
Department of Foreign Affairs Private
Bag X152 Pretoria 0001
