By More Matshediso
Pretoria - South African President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday said the country has signed a Joint Cooperation Commission (JCC) agreement with Burundi in the quest for prosperity.
The JCC agreement is set to enhance cooperation in sectors such as Agriculture, Arts and Culture, Commerce, Education, Politics, Defence, Sports, Mining, Women's Empowerment, Investment, Health, Science and Technology, Communications, Public Works and Finance.
He said the JCC agreement also comprises areas of cooperation such as arts and culture, telecommunications and public works, to name a few.
President Zuma made the announcement after meeting President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi, who paid a state visit to South Africa during the SA-Burundi Business Forum held in Cape Town.
The two Presidents sat for discussions prior to the business forum. Both said the countries that they lead shares the struggle of poverty, and they will be waging a war on unemployment and inequality.
“We agreed that boosting our economic relations will be high up on the agenda. We have a responsibility to create a better life for our peoples and as you said, together we must reap the dividends of peace. And that is through more meaningful economic cooperation,” President Zuma said.
“We therefore have to speed up processes to implement our agreements,” President Zuma said.
Trading and Investment
President Zuma said bilateral trade between the two countries have been slowly increasing from 47.7 million rand in 2007 to just over 52 million rand in 2013.
He urged businesspeople from both countries to improve the figures, by further exploring opportunities in the two countries.
President Zuma said few areas have been identified for cooperation, and that the Business Forum is making progress in finding new avenues.
“Burundi has considerable mining potential, which provides opportunities for cooperation, especially on exploration, technology exchange as well as funding or uptake of readily available projects,” he said.
He added that South Africa is also looking for opportunities in infrastructure development, especially in energy, transport, construction, telecommunications, aerospace and related industries.
He suggested that joint ventures can be forged in crop and livestock production, manufacturing and supply of agro-chemicals and other inputs, cultural and production practices as well as small scale processing technology.
“We have come a long way. We were in the trenches together, fighting for peace and democracy. Now the time is ripe for Burundi and South Africa to start a new and meaningful chapter of economic cooperation,” said President Zuma. - SAnews.gov.za
