Press Communiqué: South Africa and Argentina Senior Officials Meeting, Pretoria – 11-12 November 2010
In preparation for the Third Ministerial Meeting of the BNC that will be held in Pretoria in 2011, a meeting of Senior Officials took place in Pretoria to take stock of developments on the outcomes of the last BNC held in Buenos Aires in 2008 and to identify new areas to include in bilateral cooperation.
The delegations were headed by Ambassador Mxakato-Diseko, Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation for the South African side, and Ambassador Norma Nascimbene de Dumont, Director-General for Foreign Policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship for the Argentine side.
In 2005, South Africa and Argentina established a Binational Commission (BNC) with the common objective of strengthening their links of cooperation for development and globally enhancing the agenda of the South.
The delegations met on the 11th and 12th of November 2010 in the OR Tambo Building of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation in Pretoria and worked in plenary sessions on the three main clusters of the relations: Political, Economic and Multilateral Cooperation.
The topics successfully addressed during the sessions covered global issues such as human rights, disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation, the Malvinas Islands; regional issues such as the state of regional developments; bilateral issues such as defence cooperation, cooperation in science and technology, space issues etc; as well as institutional mechanisms related to the monitoring of the relationship.
The Argentine side handed over the original invitation of H.E. Mrs. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, President of the Argentine Republic, inviting H.E. Mr Jacob Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa on a state visit to Argentina during the first semester 2011.
During the meeting, several bilateral vehicles related to the following issues, were discussed:
- Agreement on cooperation in the field of agriculture;
- Cooperation and assistance agreement between the South African Council for Geosciences of the Mineral and Energy departments and the Servicio Geologico Minero Argentino;
- Agreement between the National Film and Video Foundation of the Republic of South Africa and the Instituto National de Cine y Artes of the Argentine Republic on cooperation in the field of film and video industry;
- Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Federal Planning, Public Investment and Services of the Argentina Republic and the Department of Mineral Resources;
- Bilateral Air Services Agreement;
- Double Taxation Agreement for Air Services;
- Memorandum of Understanding on Defence Cooperation; and
- Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the field of Arts & Culture
Finally it was agreed that the Third Ministerial Binational Commission will be held in Pretoria on a date to be convened through diplomatic channels, but not later than June 2011.
For more information, please contact the Chief Director for Public Diplomacy, Mr Saul Kgomotso Molobi, on 082 940 1647, +27 12 351 0083 or e-mail him at molobisk@dirco.gov.za.
Issued by the Department of International Relations and Co-operation
OR Tambo Building
Private Bag x152
Pretoria, RSA
0001
12 November 2010
|
