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Press Statement
04 October 2012
Deputy Minister Fransman to host Ukrainian and Swiss counterparts
The Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Mr Marius Fransman, will receive the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Viktor Mayko, and the Swiss State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Mr Yves Rossier, on 09 and 11 October 2012 respectively.
The visit of the Ukrainian Deputy Minister follows the successful Senior Officials’ Political Consultations that took place in May 2012 and presents a good opportunity to review the status of bilateral relations and set the agenda for the possible visit of President Mr Yanukovych.
The two Deputy Ministers will discuss bilateral relations between South Africa and Ukraine; strengthen partnership on national priorities i.e. Education and Skills Development in the Maritime industry and Job creation through trade, investment and technical cooperation; strengthen cooperation on the African Agenda and to exchange views on multilateral issues of common interest
Political consultations between South Africa and Ukraine are guided by both the “Memorandum of Understanding between Ministries of Foreign Affairs of South Africa and Ukraine” (February 1994) and the “Joint Declaration on Relations and Co-operation between Ukraine and the RSA” (November 1996), that provide for regular bilateral political consultations at Ministerial level and senior officials.
The Swiss State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Mr Rossier, will be in South Africa for the 4th Annual South Africa-Switzerland High Level Consultations (HLC). The last High Level Consultations between the two countries took place in Berne, Switzerland, in March 2011 and was co-chaired by Deputy Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim and former State Secretary Peter Maurer.
The objectives of the consultations between the Deputy Minister and the State Secretary include discussing ways and measures to enhance both bilateral political and economic relations in order to support South Africa’s national priorities, South Africa’s foreign policy objectives with regards to the African Agenda and an exchange of views on issues in the multilateral fora.
The High Level Consultations consist of four Working Groups; namely (i) the Foreign Policy Working Group, (ii) Economic Development, Trade and Financial Issues Working Group, (iii) Development Cooperation Working Group as well as the (iv) Science and Technology Working Group.
Enquiries: Mr Clayson Monyela, Spokesperson for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, +27 82 884 5974.
Issued by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation
OR Tambo Building
460 Soutpansberg Road
Rietondale
Pretoria
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