SOUTH African President Thabo Mbeki has arrived in the United States for a five-day visit aimed at cementing ties with Washington and mobilising investment. He will address the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday and is expected to renew calls for accelerated debt relief for poor nations. Mbeki is also to attend a two-day US-South Africa business forum in New York, before holding talks later in the week with US Vice President Al Gore. His delegation is made up of key South African ministers, including Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and Labour Minister Membathisi Mdlandlana. High on the agenda will be US central bank gold sales which have battered the bullion price, in the process threatening some 80000 jobs in South Africa’s gold mining sector.