Pretoria - Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and the Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden, Jan Björklund, will on Friday convene the 8th South Africa-Sweden Bi-National Commission (BNC) in Pretoria.
The eighth session of commission will assess the state of relations between the two countries, particularly the implementation of the programme of bilateral cooperation.
Discussions will focus on strengthening and deepening cooperation in the areas of the economy, education, skills development and science and technology.
South Africa and Sweden enjoy warm and cordial relations. In 2002, South Africa and Sweden established a Bi-National Commission as a formal structure to coordinate bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
The commission is co-chaired by South Africa’s Deputy President and Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister. Since its establishment, the BNC has held seven sessions, alternating between the two capitals.
The last session of the Bi-National Commission was held in October 2011 in Sweden and covered the areas of international relations and human rights, trade and investment, ICT, energy and vocational education.
Sweden is an important investor in South Africa with more than 100 companies active in the country and contributing to employment creation.
Sweden is also an important export market for South African value added products. In addition, Sweden is a source of long-haul tourism for South Africa.
In 2012, more than 40 000 Swedish tourists visited South Africa. – SAnews.gov.za
