Mbombela - Delegates from the South African government and European Union (EU) are locked in their fourth annual summit that will seek to build on the partnership between the two.
President Jacob Zuma and the President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, are leading the deliberations at the rest camp in Skukuza inside the Kruger National Park, which is famous for its big game.
Zuma and his delegation waved at the cheering Nelspruit airport staff as they touch down this morning.
The primary objective of the summit, according to the International Relations Department, would be to address issues of mutual interest, including key government priorities of health, education, rural development, job creation and combating crime.
Although official talks will be focused on development and trade, foreign policy issues will likely come up.
The differences over Libya, Zimbabwe and trade policy might be the cloud hanging over the talks, as well as peace and security in Africa and the Middle East.
South Africa and the African Union (AU) have criticised the NATO bombing campaign in Libya and the manner in which the EU has handled the crisis.
Although about 20 African countries have recognised the National Transitional Council (NTC), the AU has so far refused to do so and is instead sticking to its roadmap for Libya, which calls for an inclusive government in Tripoli.
The EU has for its part recognised the rebels as the legitimate interim government.
On Wednesday, Zuma, as the leader of the AU panel on Libya, hosted the talks in Pretoria with the Presidents of Uganda, Mauritania, Mali and Congo-Brazzaville.
The panel committed itself to working with various stakeholders, including the (NTC, to establish an all-inclusive national government in the embattled North African country.
Zimbabwe also remains a contentious issue for the two sides. South Africa, which is also the mediator in the power-sharing government between Robert Mugabe and his long-standing rival Morgan Tsvangirai, has been calling on Western nations to lift the travel ban, assets freeze and arms embargo imposed on Mugabe and his inner circle.
Pretoria argues that lifting the sanctions would shore up the fragile unity government and show that the West is not playing favourites in Harare.
Another delicate question likely to come up is the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the southern African nations. Namibia, South Africa and Angola are the only three countries out of seven in the SADC-EPA configuration group that have not yet signed the controversial interim agreement.
Other countries have already signed, with Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland inking the interim agreement in 2009 -- a move which threatened to split the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) at the time.
EPAs are agreements entered into by each African country, committing to certain trade agreements with the EU, in an effort to create free trade areas (FTAs).
South Africa feels that the trade agreements favoured Europe, instead of it being mutually beneficial to both, which is why it has not been signed.
The upcoming COP17 climate conference to be held in Durban during November and December will also feature prominently in the Skukuza summit.
The EU has given South Africa 6 million euros towards the climate conference, which activists are calling a last-ditch attempt to renew the emissions reduction targets in the Kyoto Protocol, the only binding global deal to cut greenhouse gases.
The EU is pushing hard for big developing/emerging countries like China and India - which are emitting large and growing amounts of carbon into the atmosphere - to sign onto a legally-binding agreement that quantifies their emission cuts.
EU says this is a necessary condition for developed nations like them to commit themselves to a second period of emission cuts after the Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of 2012.
The developing and emerging countries are not bound to emission cuts under the Kyoto Protocol, on the grounds that they need to continue emitting carbon to catch up with the developed countries, which are responsible for most of the carbon emissions that are warming the atmosphere.
The EU is South Africa's largest trading partner, accounting for 26% of South Africa's total trade.
At the 2009 edition of the summit, the European Commission launched a 100 million euro programme aimed at boosting job creation and stimulating economic growth in South Africa.
On Wednesday, the EU also announced a R1.2 billion Primary Health Care Sector Policy Support Programme, designed to assist the South African government to improve quality of and access to primary health care services; fight HIV and Aids and TB and improve maternal and child health.
Zuma is joined at the meeting by the Ministers of International Relations and Co-operation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Defence Lindiwe Sisulu, Science and Technology Naledi Pandor, Water and Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa, Trade and Industry Rob Davies and Finance Pravin Gordhan, European Council President Herman van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. - BuaNews
