South Africa and Egypt are to look into ways of increasing the volume of trade between them, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Tuesday.
”The low level of trade between the two countries, while there is so much potential… concerns us,” she told reporters in Pretoria.
”We have to see what is causing that… There are no political problems.”
The sixth session of the South African-Egyptian joint bilateral commission ended in the capital on Tuesday.
Measures identified during the session, said Dlamini-Zuma, included the possibility of a free trade agreement between the two countries.
Transport was another important matter, considering the fact that Egypt had easy access to many countries via the Mediterranean Sea, while South Africa was much further.
The issue of transport was also of concern in the light of the undertaking between the two countries to increase the tourism flow between them, the minister said.
Referring to Egypt’s close involvement in efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she told her Egyptian counterpart, Ahmed Maher El-Sayed: ”You can count on us for whatever support you think is necessary in the Middle East.
”It is in the interest of everybody who would like to see peace in the world that that conflict is resolved as soon as possible.”
Maher said: ”We want the people of Palestine to achieve independence and freedom in their own land.”
He expressed appreciation for South Africa’s support of what he termed a rightful struggle.
According to Dlamini-Zuma, South Africa would continue with its efforts regarding countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe.
”We hope that when we meet next time we can tick off some of these conflicts and say peace has been established, and talk about development in essence.”
Agreements signed between the two sides on Tuesday included ones dealing with health and pharmaceuticals, cultural cooperation and tourism.
The SABC also signed an agreement with the Egyptian Broadcasting Authority.
SABC chief executive officer Peter Matlare said the corporation hoped to benefit from sophisticated training opportunities and technical advances its Egyptian counterpart could offer.
These included facilities to ensure broadcasting for both nation building and commercial purposes.
Their cooperation would also give the people of the two countries a better sense of what was happening in the other’s environment.
For the SABC, for instance, it would be useful to get another source of information on the Middle East conflict rather than only using BBC or CNN, Matlare said.
Egypt and South Africa are among the six African nations vying to host the 2010 soccer World Cup tournament.
Referring to the tournament, Dlamini-Zuma said with a rather straight face: ”We persuaded the Egyptians to support us.”
Maher nodded in apparent agreement.
Asked about that later though, Dlamini-Zuma said: ”We will deal with that in due course.”
Maher added: ”It is a matter we chose not to discuss.” – Sapa