Foreign affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and her Indian counterpart, Yashwant Sinha, will co-chair the fifth session of the South Africa -India Joint Ministerial Commission meeting in Pretoria, today and tomorrow.

This to strengthen political and economic ties between the two countries. The strategic partnership between the two countries was formalised during a state visit by former President Nelson Mandela to India in March 1997, at which the historic Red Fort Declaration was signed. The latter sent a clear signal that the SA Government was interested not only in focusing on economic ties and commercial relations but it called also for a strategic partnership with India, going beyond mere trade and investment. In the Pretoria meeting, the two ministers are expected to address a range of bilateral political and economic issues, including the need to take stock of the implementation of critical decisions and resolutions emanating from previous bilateral interactions. They will also consider ways in which to effectively advance the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) for mutual benefit. Nepad is the socio-economic recovery plan of the African Union. Briefing the media about this meeting yesterday, deputy foreign affairs minister Aziz Pahad said India, as one of the countries that supported the liberation movement against apartheid, had become a key ally, both politically and economically. He said the two ministers would forge closer economic co-operations in the field of mining, agro-processed products, motor vehicles and components, environmental equipment and related services, singling out Information and Communication Technology (ICT). “As you know India is one of the leading ICT countries in the world. We believe that the information and communication technology that India has developed has already begun to attract attention and South Africa is beginning to engage quite substantially with Indian partners in this field,” said Pahad.

For this reason, both countries had already signed a Memorandum of Understanding to forge closer co-operations on ICT issues. Pahad added that South Africa was also looking at the possibility of co-operation in the field of space technology. India is also one of the leading countries in the latter field, having launched about 11 satellites, which are already in orbit.

The Indian Space Research Organisation recently launched its third “remote sensory” satellite for geographical mapping.

South African High Commissioner to New Delhi Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said they would be looking to interest their Indian counterparts in the field of biotechnology and generics. “They are focusing on ICT here and we would like interest them to participate in biotechnology/generics. We don’t want to import necessarily, but we want to join ventures with them here taping on their expertise on using biotechnology for the production of generics,” said Nkoana-Mashabane. India is currently South Africa’s sixth largest trading partner in the Asian region. South Africa’s total investment in India currently exceeds R209-million whereas India’s investment into South Africa totals more than R125-million. – BuaNews.