Pretoria - South Africa and Poland have agreed that the strengthening of bilateral relations between the two countries is critical to advance their national development priorities and common multilateral interests.
The two countries agreed to explore cooperation in areas such as trade and investment; science and technology; education and skills development and infrastructure development; maritime cooperation; agriculture and minerals and energy.
This emerged after a meeting between International Relations and Cooperation Deputy Minister Marius Fransman and his Polish counterpart Beata Stelmach, who met in Pretoria on Wednesday to review the status of bilateral relations.
“Our meeting has further reinforced our joint commitment to strengthening cooperation and continuing to exchange views on regional and global peace and security, as well as global governance issues,” said Fransman.
The meeting also served as a preparatory meeting for the official visit of the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to South Africa in October.
South Africa and Poland enjoy cordial and growing bilateral relations and both countries are important partners in the context of the South Africa and Africa-EU partnerships.
Furthermore, South Africa and Poland have shared experiences of transitions to democracies and shared values of freedom, human rights and democracy.
These shared values and experiences provide a strong platform for the strengthening of bonds of friendship and mutually beneficial and complementary bilateral relations between two leading emerging economies and strong democracies in Africa and Central Europe.
On the economic front, total trade between South Africa and Poland grew from R2.6 billion in 2006 and to R6.3 billion in 2012.
Imports from Poland increased from R1.3 billion in 2006 to R4.6 billion in 2012.
South African companies have shown considerable interest in the Polish economy, with significant investments in Poland’s beverages, paper, furniture, manufacturing/retail and distribution sectors, including media and communications, amongst others.
While a number of Polish companies are investing and exploring investment opportunities in the aviation, cosmetics, glassware, hospitality, heavy industrial equipment, mining and pharmaceutical sectors. – SAnews.gov.za
