Tuesday, August 25, 2009
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Amy Witherden.
Making headlines:
South Africa and India agree that their bilateral relationship is a strategic one, says South African Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies. India is South Africa's tenth-largest foreign investor, he explained, while bilateral trade reportedly tripled between 2003 and 2007.
Davies observed that Indian companies are quick to move from supplying products into investing in South Africa. "This is something we want to encourage," he said.
The Minister admitted that the bilateral Investment Protection Agreement between the two countries is currently "more-or-less stalled" ahead of an "internal review".
Davies emphasised that "South-South trade is assuming an ... increasing importance".

African leaders will ask rich nations for $67-billion a year to mitigate the impact of global warming on the continent. Ten leaders are holding talks at African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa in an effort to agree on a common stance ahead of a United Nations summit on climate change in Copenhagen in December.
There have been serious limitations on Africa's ability to negotiate in the past, because of the lack of a coherent stance on global warming by African governments. The resolution said that the negotiations need to be backed with political weight at the highest level on the continent to ensure that the African voice on climate change negotiations is taken seriously.

A lack of leadership has left South Africa's health system burdened by rampant HIV/Aids and poor maternal and child health services, while being exacerbated by violent crime, according to doctors writing in The Lancet medical journal. South African doctors writing in the British journal said that although South Africa is considered a middle-income country in terms of its economy, it has health outcomes that are worse than those in many lower income countries.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has said that the country's health system is "in trouble". He met yesterday with a team of international experts, to discuss ways to battle South Africa's health challenges. Researchers have blamed the country's health problems on weak leadership and management that have led to inadequate implementation of what are often good policies.
Lancet editor Richard Horten says that the election of President Jacob Zuma earlier this year offers an opportunity to redress the mistakes of the past.

Also making headlines:
The Economic Community of West African States calls for a summit on Niger to help resolve a democratic crisis.
The Department of Transport gazettes codes on broad-based black economic-empowerment in the transport sector.
The Constitutional Court will rule on prisoner pardons put forward by the Inkatha Freedom Party today.
And, Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana warns of a revolution unless progress is made in achieving employment equity.
That's a roundup of news making headlines today.