Pretoria - South Africa and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have committed to conclude all outstanding agreements which will further boost bilateral trade between the two sides.
This emerged at the end of the inaugural South Africa-United Arab Emirates Joint Commission, which took place in Abu Dhabi, on Monday.
International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane co-chaired the inaugural meeting with her counterpart Minister Yasin al-Hashimi.
Minister Nkoana-Mashabane's delegation included officials from Trade and Industry, Economic Development, Energy and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Pretoria has described the meeting as a success.
“The meeting offered the two countries the opportunity to review bilateral relations and deliberate on proposals for enhanced and new areas of cooperation,” Dirco said on Tuesday.
South Africa and the UAE have maintained a good relationship since formal diplomatic ties were first established in 1994.
The relationship has a strong economic focus and the UAE is already a lucrative export market for South African products.
There are a large number of South African companies which are active in a variety of sectors in the UAE economy.
The UAE is also host to a sizeable South African expatriate community.
In terms of trade between South Africa and the UAE, it has increased by over R4 billion, while imports from the UAE year-on-year also increased by over R4 billion.
“This is a positive trajectory of the potential for enhancing trade between the two countries.” - SAnews.gov.za
