SA, Moz build on relations

Friday, October 29, 2010

Pretoria - South Africa and Mozambique have taken their bilateral relations further after holding a successful meeting on Friday, where various issues of cooperation were discussed.

President Jacob Zuma and his Mozambican counterpart Armando Guebuza co-chaired the South Africa-Mozambique Heads of State Economic Bilateral Commission at the Presidential Guesthouse in Pretoria.

The talks, which both Presidents labelled as "fruitful", reviewed a wide range of bilateral, regional and international issues.

Briefing the media after the meeting, Zuma reported on progress made regarding a number of issues the two countries were cooperating in or planning to do so in the near future.

Zuma was pleased with the progress of the Spatial Development Initiatives (SDI) -such as the Maputo Corridor, the Beria SD, the Limpopo Valley, Zambezi Valley and Nacala Development Corridor - which the two countries are to partner in.

The two countries agreed to continue working together in the energy sector, which Zuma said was an important sector in their bilateral relations, transport, communications and water for the mutual benefit of both countries.

They agreed to expedite promising projects, such as the Matola Phalaborwa Iron and Steel Project, in order to further boost economic cooperation.

Though data indicated that trade investments between the two countries have increased over the years, Guebuza called for even more investment from South African countries. This would help with skills transfer in his country.

"We are pleased with South Africa's investments to our country... but we need more," said Guebuza.

Zuma and Guebuza called on South African companies to look into this as they considered the two countries as partners, neighbours and friends.

They also agreed to partner in the fight against rhino poaching by implementing a regional response strategy. The slaughter of South Africa's rhinos by poachers has reached an unprecedented level.

Since the beginning of the year, 232 rhino have been poached, an issue Zuma and Guebuza said they will try to elevate.

"At bilateral level ...we have decided to take certain measures, including the training of rangers as well as involvement of Interpol and regional security clusters," said Zuma.

Moreover, it was agreed at the meeting that due to financial constrains, they would construct a one-stop border post at the Ressano Garcia / Lebombo border in an incremental basis.

It is envisaged that the border post will help ease the movement of goods and services at the border and in turn enhance trade, investment and tourism between the two countries, reads the communiqu,.

The meeting called for attention to be paid to agriculture, in order to address food security. In this light, the country's agricultural ministers have been mandated to speedily implement projects.

They also agreed on building a monument with an "interpretative centre" in memory of the Matola raid in that country.

Recognising that increased bilateral cooperation and the growing ties in various sectors, the two Presidents agreed to transform the current Forum into a Bi-National Commission (BNC) to meet annually.

The BNC will not only focus on economic issues as it is currently the case but will also cover social and security issues.

Both leaders agreed to continue working together in the shared vision of political, economic and security stability in their countries and the region.