SA, UAE Joint Commission meeting set

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Pretoria - South Africa and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will next week hold the inaugural meeting of Joint Commission.

The meeting of the Joint Commission, which is scheduled to take place next week Monday, will be co-chaired by International Relations and Cooperation Minister Nkoana-Mashabane and her counterpart Minister Yasin al-Hashimi.

“The Joint Commission will provide the two countries the opportunity to review bilateral relations and deliberate on proposals for enhanced and new areas of cooperation,” Deputy Minister Luwellyn Landers said on Wednesday.

The agreement to establish a Joint Commission was reached during the state visit to the UAE by President Jacob Zuma in 2011.

Deputy Minister Landers said South Africa and the UAE have maintained a good relationship since formal diplomatic ties were first established in 1994.

“The relationship has a strong economic focus, and the UAE is already a lucrative export market for South African products, while many South African companies are benefitting from opportunities in the UAE in a variety of sectors,” he said.

Worth noting is the sharp increase in total trade between South Africa and the UAE with exports to the UAE increasing by over R4 billion year-on-year in 2014, while imports from the UAE year-on-year also increased by over R4 billion.

This according to the Deputy Minister is a positive trajectory of the potential for enhancing trade between the two countries. – SAnews.gov.za