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South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka to pay Official Visit to the Republic of Ireland
Pretoria – The South African Deputy President, Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, supported by Deputy Foreign Minister, Ms Sue van der Merwe, will on conclusion of her official visit to The Netherlands, pay an official visit to Ireland, scheduled from 9 -10 April 2008. Deputy President Mlambo-Ngcuka will be hosted by her Irish counterpart, Prime Minister Mr Bertie Ahern.
The Deputy President and her delegation will visit Ireland within the context of consolidating and expanding South Africa’s special relations with Ireland. The visit will further strengthen existing co-operation with Ireland on Government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (ASGI-SA), and Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA).
Discussions between Deputy President Mlambo-Ngcuka and Prime Minister Ahern on Wednesday 9 April 2008 are expected to include, among others:
- The status of bilateral political, and economic relations between the two countries as well as Africa and the European Union in general;
- Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT);
- Expanding South Africa’s manufacturing base; and
- Co-operation in the agro-industry.
Whilst in Ireland, the Deputy President and her delegation will also attend a business meeting arranged by Sir Anthony O’Reilly with captains of Irish business.
Bilateral Economic Relations
South Africa sells mainly agricultural products such as wines and fruit, agricultural machinery, as well as minerals to Ireland. Ireland in turn sells mainly information technology equipment, beverages, as well as pharmaceutical products to South Africa.
In this context, South African business community are beginning to identify Ireland as an ideal trading partner in Europe.
Although the volume of bilateral trade is tilted strongly in Ireland’s favour, a vast scope for the deepening of economic relations exists as the following statistics indicate.
Trade Figures
South African Exports to Ireland (ZAR)
2004 2005 2006 2007
1,024,704 1,122,108 1,127,271 1,176,249
South African Imports from Ireland
2004 2005 2006 2007
4,053,853 4,072,400 4,311,945 4,864,720
Tourism Figures
2005 2006
36,335 38,124
Development Co-operation
Ireland’s development assistance to South Africa amounts to about Euro 11 million, annually. Irish Aid is mainly focused on five priority areas: Education, where the assistance is mainly channelled into capacity building; Health, HIV/AIDS; Water Supply and Sanitation; as well as Good Governance, Democracy and Human Rights.
Since coming to office, the current Government has trebled Development Aid to about Euro 545 million, making Ireland the world’s 8th largest contributor (0.41%). Eighty five percent of Irish Development Assistance is spent in Africa.
Irish Development Assistance to Africa will remain the primary focus of Irish Aid. The strategy emphasises African ownership and partnership. Consequently, Irish Aid will work through African institutions and will increase the number of key partner countries from eight to ten.
Support for Peacekeeping and Conflict Resolution in Africa
In 2006, Ireland made a contribution of Euro 800 000 to South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission for their work in the DRC. Ireland also has a military presence of about 430 personnel in Liberia as part of UNMIL, the largest such deployment by a western European country to a UN mandated Peace Keeping Operation in Africa.
Issued by Ronnie Mamoepa
082 990 4853
Department of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001
8 April 2008
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