/ 17 February 1999

GORE IN SA

UNITED States Vice President Al Gore arrives in Cape Town aboard Air Force Two on Wednesday morning for the first full session of the US/South Africa binational commission since August 1997. Thursday’s session on the theme “the SA-US partnership into the new millennium” will be co-chaired by Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and Gore. A trade and investment framework agreement is expected to be signed at the end of the two-day meeting. Gore joins US attorney-general Janet Reno, Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman, Commerce Secretary William Daley, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and a host of other senior officials already in Cape Town for talks with their South African counterparts.