Zuma, Sarkozy to deepen cooperation

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma, who arrived in Paris yesterday, is expected to engage President Nicolas Sarkozy today to deepen cooperation with France on the five national priorities, education, health, rural development, the fight against crime and creating decent work.

Zuma is on a state visit to that country at the invitation of Sarkozy, accompanied by International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies, Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa and Minister of Energy, Dipuo Peters.

There is also a strong business delegation, invited by the Department of Trade and Industry and Business Unity South Africa.

Some of the companies specialise in the six growth areas mentioned in the New Growth Path. These are infrastructure development, agriculture, mining and beneficiation, manufacturing, the green economy and tourism.

During the visit the President is expected to hold talks with the Prime Minister Francois Fillon, President of the Senate, Gerard Larcher, Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe as well as Bernard Accoyer President of the National Assembly to discuss various economic and cultural relations.

He will also participate in a remembrance ceremony for Dulcie September, an ANC Representative who was brutally murdered in Paris on 29 March 1988 by unknown people.

At the end of the visit on Friday, the President will travel to Nouakchott in Mauritania, in his capacity as a member of the African Union High-Level Panel for the Resolution of the Crisis in Cote d'Ivoire.

The President is expected back in South Africa on Saturday. - BuaNews