Pretoria - South Africa intends improving its own immigration procedures by drawing on the experience of countries such as the Netherlands.
An agreement between the two countries will see an exchange of information, technology and skills related to immigration.
Home Affairs Director General Mkuseli Apleni signed the agreement with his Dutch counterpart Robert van Lint in Pretoria on Tuesday.
Van Lint is the general director of immigration and naturalisation services in the Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations.
Apleni said immigration was a relatively new field for South Africa, which was still a young democracy.
"We have to go and learn from the people who (have been) practising for a long time ... For this reason we wanted to sign this agreement with Netherlands, which relates to the sharing of information and expertise around the field immigration in particular, around technology," he added.
South Africa had particular interest in technology that would help process people who were entering the country.
The agreement would also concentrate on training which would help the department's staff understand the concept of immigration better.
Apleni said South Africa was also revisiting its policies related to immigration and would study the policies other countries had in place and then draw on the best practices.
"We can learn a lot from countries such as the Netherlands," he added.
Van Lint said although the Netherlands was in a different phase of development compared with South Africa, both countries faced similar immigration challenges.
"The problems South Africa faces, as an upcoming economic power on the continent and world and the migration patterns as a consequence of that, are the problems also faced by European countries and the Netherlands especially," he noted.
Van Lint expected the agreement between the two countries to be a fruitful exchange of information on technologies, policy, law making, training and education related to immigration.
