Pretoria – Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad will on Monday 17 September 2007 host his Italian counterpart Deputy Minister Patrizia Sentinelli at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

Deputy Minister Pahad will host his counterpart within the context of South Africa’s priority to consolidate bilateral political, economic and trade relations as well as multilateral relations with Italy.  In this regard, Italy is a member of both the Group of 8 (G-8) and European Union and non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. 

The visit by Deputy Minister Sentinelli also follows the highly successful visit of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Massimo D’Alema and a large Government and business delegation to South Africa in July 2007.

Issues on the agenda of discussions between Deputy Ministers Pahad and Sentinelli are expected to include, among others:

• The status of bilateral political, economic and trade relations between both countries;
• Possible bilateral co-operation between Italy and South Africa in the field of skills development within the framework of ASGISA and JIPSA;
• United Nations Security Council issues with a focus on Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Western Sahara, the Middle East Peace Process, within the framework of South Africa and Italy’s current positions as non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and in line with the forthcoming United Nations General Assembly meeting in December.  It is intended that both Heads of Government and State and Ministers of Foreign Affairs will attend this session;
• Crises and post-conflict situations in Africa including the Horn of Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Darfur, Somalia, Comoros;
• United Nations – African Union relations including collaboration in peace-keeping with regional organizations ; and
• Preparations towards the European Union - Africa Summit in Lisbon, December 2007.

Bilateral Economic Relations

Despite the increase in two-way trade between SA and Italy over the past few years – that reached R23 billion in 2006 - opportunities to increase trade and investment relations are plentiful.

Italy ranks amongst South Africa’s top ten trading partners. South African exports to Italy are dominated byprecious and non-ferrous metals; basic iron and steel and ferro-alloys; coal; and quarried stone/granite.

Some value added SA products are increasingly penetrating the Italian market, including processed and preserved fish and fish products; manufacture of other general purpose machinery; production, processing and preserving of meat and meat products; preparation and spinning of textile fibres; fruit and vegetable crops; market gardening; horticulture; tanning and dressing of leather; pulp, paper and paperboard; basic chemicals.

South African imports from Italy consist mainly of machine tools, auto vehicles and components thereof, industrial machinery, jewellery and telecommunications equipment.

Italy also has a firm understanding of the needs of the developing world, and therefore has been able to advocate for these through its position in the G8.

South African business stands to learn many lessons from Italy, especially in the context of Italy’s vibrant, job-creating SMMEs sector. There are a number of sectors where collaboration is feasible, such as the textile industry and especially in clothing design. In South Africa we have what is called a second economy. This economy refers to those people of the population that have been unable to participate in the formal economy, in other words, they are marginalised from the mainstream economy. These are the people that SMME interventions are targeted at.

Furthermore, in the jewellery sector; Italy is also renowned for its design there and South Africa is a pole player in the raw materials of this industry.  The number of joint ventures between companies from both our two countries, particularly in our mining sector, is encouragingly rising.

SA provides a friendly environment for doing business and is ranked 28 in the World Bank Investment Climate Survey. The sound macro-economic management frameworks put in place since 1994 have lead to a steady economic growth. For the past 13 years, our economy has been experiencing a positive growth, as opposed to the 20 years before 1994. In this regard, we can to benefit from increased Italian investment.

For the past 3 years, we have been registering an annual growth rate of 5% and creating 500 000 jobs per annum. Government is confident that we will be able to achieve our targeted annual growth rate of at least 6% as of 2008.

Issued by Ronnie Mamoepa on 082 990 4853

Media programme for visit to South Africa by Italian Deputy Minister Patrizia Sentinelli

Monday 17 September 2007

11h30             Arrival of media ahead of photo opportunity on commencement of discussions between Deputy Minister Pahad and Deputy Minister Sentinelli

Venue            :            East Wing Union Buildings

                                    Pretoria

                                                            (Please present press cards)

                                                            (Parking on Government Avenue)

                  Contact         :           Manusha Pillai on 082 389 3587

12h00              Commencement of discussions between Deputy Ministers Pahad and Sentinelli

                  Photo opportunity

12h30             Arrival of media ahead of joint press conference between Deputy Minister Pahad and Sentinelli

Venue            :            First Floor East Wing

                                    Union Buildings

                                    Pretoria

(Please present press cards)

                                                            (Parking on Government Avenue)

Contact         :            Manusha Pillai on 082 389 3587

13h00             Joint press conference

 For further information contact Manusha Pillai on 082 389 3587

Issued by Department of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001

16 September 2007