Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka to Host Prince and Princess from Belgium on Economic Mission

Tshwane - South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has invited Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde of Belgium to pay an official visit to South Africa from Sunday - Friday, 12-17 March 2006.

The Prince will lead a high-profile Belgian economic mission of CEOs/senior managers of close to seventy companies, in addition to a large contingent of senior trade officials and journalists. Belgium is a leading knowledge economy and commercial power, and is one of South Africa's top trade and investment partners in Europe.

The Prince's delegation includes Marc Verwilghen, Federal Minister of Economy,
Energy, Foreign Trade and Science Policy and Fientjie Moerman, Vice-Minister
President of the Flemish Government and Flemish Minister of Economy, Enterprise,
Science, Innovation and Foreign Trade.

The visit by Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde comes within the context of the South African Government's heightened emphasis on economic diplomacy in support of ASGI-SA and the drive to average 6% growth, and halve poverty and unemployment, by 2014.

The decision by Belgian business leaders to focus their attention on the South African market is another sign of the strong confidence internationally that the South African economy will continue to achieve enormous successes. The last two Belgian international trade missions have been to China and India.

A major objective of the visit will be to examine opportunities for business partnerships with Belgium in South Africa and Africa, particularly in the ports, energy and railway sectors. The DTI will host a seminar on investment opportunities in South Africa on 14 March 2006, in addition to numerous business-to-business meetings that are being arranged.

Prince Philippe will be accompanied by the representatives of five chambers of commerce/business federations, three export agencies, the Diamond High Council, and sixty-eight companies; of which:

62 are SMMEs:

• 20 companies offering services in agro/environment/publishing/ IT systems
• 33 exporters in various sectors but mainly chemical/textiles/ computer systems
• 5 potential investors in biotechnology/water treatment/pharma pathologies
• 4 exporters/investors in industrial equipment/food processing/shunting locomotives; and

6 are large companies:

• 3 offering services in banking & insurance/sport events/publishing
• 2 exporters of flags/chemicals
• 1 potential investor in the diamond sector.
  

Issues on the agenda of discussions between the two governments are expected to include:

• The state of bilateral political relations;
• Belgian development and economic co-operation programmes to train South Africans in various skills like Ports management, SMME development and diamond beneficiation;
• The enhancement of trade and investment relations;
• The expansion of co-operation in the Great Lakes Region - in particular how both countries can assist the DRC to prepare for the historic forthcoming elections;
• Promoting Belgian investment in the diamond beneficiation industry in South Africa;
• The Kimberly Process Certification Scheme.

While in South Africa, Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde will also

• Inaugurate the NRG/Nashuatec Digital Education Centre at the University of the Western Cape, in the presence of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The Centre has 127 computers, collected from Belgian companies by the NGO, Close the Gap. The computers have been repaired and refurbished and will now be used by students of UWC as an essential tool in their academic work. The Digital Education Centre provides information on HIV/Aids, particularly to first-year students of the UWC. 10 young patients from the Tygerberg Childrens' Hospital will travel to UWC for the inauguration of a second ICT project, also sponsored by Close the Gap, in which computers will be used to assist chronically ill children to improve their social contact, education and general communication outside the hospital.
• Open a workshop, chaired by Science and Technology Minister Mosibudi Mangena and Flemish Vice Minister President Fientje Moerman, to celebrate 10 years of Science and Technology cooperation between South Africa and Flanders and develop an action plan for future years.
• Visit the South African Marine Transport Academy (SAMTRA) in Simon's Town. SAMTRA, which is one of the leading marine transport training academies in Africa, is partly funded by Safmarine, a Belgian registered company. The Prince and Princess will also visit Lawhill House, a 120 bed triple storey hostel made of 47 decommissioned sea-freight containers and serving Simon's Town School, largely sponsored by Safmarine.
• Visit the Rosy Blue Cullinan Diamond Cutting Factory, a Belgian-South African BEE enterprise that is making an important contribution to the establishment of a diamond cutting and polishing skills base in South Africa.
• Witness the signing of several Memorandums of Understanding, including on Scientific Cooperation between the Universities of KwaZulu-Natal, Liége and Lubumbashi; on Supply Chain Management between the Transport Education Training Authority (TETA) and Le Pole Transport of Liége, Belgium; and on Maintenance Management between TETA and Technofutur Industries of Charleroi, Belgium.
• Open an internet Café in Tembisa that has been set up as part of a series of internet cafés to be established in townships across South Africa as part of a cooperative project between Telcom and Alcatel, using Belgian ISDN technology. Schoolchildren will be able to use the internet facilities at no cost.

Prince Philippe is expected to depart from South Africa on Friday, 17 March 2006.

Issued by Ronnie Mamoepa on 082 990 4853

Department of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Tshwane
0001

12 March 2006

BILATERAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS

Important Economic Agreements include:

• 1995 - Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation
• 1998 - Agreement for the Reciprocal Protection of Investments
  

Trade

In recent years, Belgium has remained South Africa's 6th largest trading partner, and 8th fastest growing export destination. According to South African trade statistics for 2004, South Africa exports were valued at R7, 21 billion and imports from Belgium at R3, 83 billion. The main export products from South Africa to Belgium include rough diamonds, iron, fresh fruit, bituminous coal, other ores; and manganese dioxide. Value added exports primarily include automotive components - catalytic converters, as well as transport containers, road wheels and parts and accessories thereof.

Total exports to Belgium grew by 19.7% over the last year.

South Africa's Trade with Belgium

Source: South African Department of Trade and Industry

Source: South African Department of Trade and Industry

Source: South African Department of Trade and Industry

Belgium's strategic location, excellent infrastructure network and state of the art warehousing and logistics facilities make the country an ideal platform for export into the European market.

South African trading and distribution hubs include the ports of:

• Antwerp
• Ghent
• Zeebrugge.
  

Foreign Direct Investment from Belgium

Belgian companies are among the top foreign investors in South Africa. Well known Belgian owned companies in SA include (list not exhaustive):

• BELGOTEX FLOORCOVERINGS - Manufactures quality soft floor coverings for residential and commercial applications
• BOSAL AFRICA (PTY) LTD - Leading manufacturer of car exhaust systems
• NCP ALCOHOL - Leading producer of ethanol
• ROSY BLUE - Global leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of fine diamonds and jewelry.

In May 2005 the Belgian textile company, Sander International, announced that it would invest €25 million to build a sophisticated weaving mill, finishing operations and production facility at the Coega IDZ. This was the first major investment at Coega. An estimated 550 jobs are likely to be created over the 3-phase project.

Tourism

Belgium is the 11th largest source of tourists (around 40 000 per year) to South Africa, outside of Africa (Jan - Sept 2005).

DEVELOPMENT CO-OPERATION

At the Federal level, South Africa is one of Belgium's 18 partner countries for development co-operation. The current five year programme is concentrated in three areas: HIV/AIDS, land restitution (Belgium is the only donor active in this field) and police reform.

In 2004, the Federal Government's programme was worth €5,1 million. A new indicative programme covering 2006 - 2010 is currently under preparation.

Flanders spends around half its development co-operation budget on South Africa (around 5 million Euro/annum.) Flanders has committed itself to funding programmes worth €25 million from 2005-2010 in KZN, the Free State and Limpopo in the areas of agriculture and food security, SMME development, youth and HIV/AIDS.

ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION

South Africa and Belgium have signed Economic Cooperation Agreements in numerous areas, including: SMMEs, Gemology and Minerals Beneficiation, Education & Training, and Science & Technology.

The Declaration of Intent on Cooperation in the field of SMME Development was signed between South Africa and Flanders during the official visit of H.E. Mr. Thabo Mbeki to Belgium in November 2004. Project proposals with a focus on capacity building in the SMME sector have been developed by joint implementing partners and are currently being evaluated in time to be launched during the visit of His Royal Highness Prince Philippe to South Africa from 12 to 17 March 2006.

The Declaration of Intent on Cooperation in the field of Gemology and Minerals Beneficiation, also signed between South Africa and Flanders during the official visit of H.E. Mr. Thabo Mbeki to Belgium in November 2004, focused primarily on Training and Research and Development. Partners are currently being identified for joint research projects, and training initiatives are already underway, such as the programme offered by the Diamond and Jewellery Management Institute - South Africa being a foundation partner (The Institute constitutes part of the University of Antwerp Management School). Already, six South Africans attended an intensive two-week training programme in Antwerp in November 2005.

Other important training initiatives include amongst others:

• APEC-Antwerp/Flanders Port Training Centre, through which over 120 South Africans have received training in port management;
• The partnerships between the Transport Education Training Authority (TETA) and Technofutur Industries & Le Pole Transport, jointly funded by Walloon and KZN governments, to provide training in maintenance management, and logistics and supply chain management, respectively.