OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 5.00pm.
FRANCE and South Africa signed on Thursday two agreements to expand their relations, notably with joint ventures and financial aid.
One agreement calls for the appointment of a French expert charged with determining the best options for joint ventures and facilitating their establishment. Sectors deemed best suited for such ventures include tourism, food and agriculture, the car industry, telecommunications and mechanical engineering.
The second accord is for funding to South Africa of 113-million francs ($22,6-million), of which 80% will be in the form of a grant to finance the extension of telephone lines in rural areas.
French aid to South Africa through the French Development Agency rose last year to 400-million francs ($80-million).
The joint commission in which Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin led the South African side and the French Secretary of State for External Trade, Jacques Dondoux, represented Paris, also touched on multi-lateral negotiations between the European Union and South Africa.
This month, the European Commission is expected to come up with a compromise draft of an accord on free trade which it has been negotiating with South Africa for three years.
Sticking points concern the labelling of wines which are often marketed in South Africa under the general terms of port and sherry whereas in the European Union these appellations are strictly reserved for wines of specific origin.
French exports to South Africa attained 4,5-billion francs ($564-million) during the first eight months of 1998, compared to 3,7-billion francs for the same period of 1997.
Despite this, French enterprises are insufficiently represented in South Africa. France is only the sixth biggest supplier of goods to South Africa with a mere 5% share of the market and the fourth biggest investor there behind Britain, Germany and the United States. — AFP
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