Pretoria - A South African delegation has concluded a tour aimed at promoting trade, tourism and investment in the states of Qatar; Kuwait and the Kingdom of Bahrain which make up the Gulf Region.
The working visit, which started at the end of July, was lead by International Relations Deputy Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim within the context of South Africa consolidating relations with countries in the Gulf.
Talks in all three countries centred on a review of standing bilateral relations, political and economic developments in South Africa, Africa and the Gulf Region as well as economic relations in the fields of defence, science and technology, energy and arts and culture.
Resoundingly, all three countries acknowledged the progress South Africa has made since the dawn of democracy and relayed to Deputy Minister Ebrahim their full support for the South Africa's candidature for the United Nations Security Council Non-Permanent Member seat for the period 2011 to 2012.
In Qatar, Ebrahim discussed the issue of advancing economic cooperation and to finalise the agreements related to the establishment of a South Africa-Qatar Business Council and co-operation between the respective chambers of commerce.
Furthermore, he discussed the agreement on cooperation of Science and Technology; collaboration, a proposal for a permanent Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at a South African tertiary institution.
They also touched on the speedy ratification of agreements in Defence Co-operation Agreement and signed into force Memoranda of Understanding on Co-operation in the fields of health, aviation, tourism, agriculture and police.
According to the International Relations Department, the visit to Kuwait was aimed at acknowledging the longstanding relationship the two countries have shared since 2000 resulting in a formalised relationship through the signing of a MoU.
The two countries have since 2000 entered into six Bilateral Agreements, including a Memorandum of Understanding on Bilateral Consultation, which has helped push the trade relations to R93 468 000 in 2009.
To build on this, it was agreed that Prime Minister of Kuwait should visit South Africa in the latter part of 2010 at which time he is expected to meet with the South African Government and business representatives.
In the Kingdom of Bahrain, Deputy Minister Ebrahim met his counterpart Abdulla Abdullatif Abdulla where they discussed they negotiated five agreements.
Among those were an MoU in economic, trade and technical cooperation; an Agreement for the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments and Agreement on the Avoidance of Double Taxation and an MoU on Cooperation between the Johannesburg Camber of Commerce and Industry and Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
