SOUTH African and French officials met in Pretoria this week for their first annual consultation on development cooperation, a joint statement said on Wednesday. Officials from a wide range of government departments — including arts, finance and agriculture — reviewed French financial support to South Africa since the election of the first democratic government in 1994, it said. Between 1994 and 1999, France has given South Africa R2,5-billion in financial assistance. South Africa has been included in the official French development programme in 1999 — the Priority Solidarity Zone — and the French Economic Partnership Zone, which also includes emerging countries in Africa, such as Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia.