SA to cement ties with Africa
Seshoane Masitha
25 August 2004
South Africa's Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma says government will soon appoint a deputy director-general to deal specifically with multilateral relations in Africa.
Speaking at the parliamentary media briefing in Cape Town on Wednesday, the minister said that government realised the need to put more emphasis on Africa as it had concentrated much effort on bilateral agreements with foreign countries.
"We have not put much energy on bilateral relations with the African countries and we have identified this as one of the areas that we should deal with.
"This is important and also in line with Nepad in so far as it relates to creating partnerships between African countries, and bilateral relations include political relations, economy, trade, investments and tourism."
Dlamini-Zuma said South Africa has a lot of tourism potential. "If we look at our tourism figures for last year, we received over six million tourists,
four million of whom came from the African continent. This shows that, contrary to perceptions, our tourism is sustained by Africa."
The minister shot down what she called a misconception that most Africans wanted to live in South Africa, saying people loved their homes and wanted to remain patriotic.
"We should look at that in proper perspective as a regime that encourages tourism and trade among African countries," she said.
Dr Dlamini-Zuma also said south-south relations were important but should not to be seen as a substitute of relations with countries of the north.
"If you put developing countries together, they have a lot of competitive advantage among them. When put together they can actually enhance their development," she said, adding that it was important for countries in the southern hemisphere to work together not only politically but also economically.
Source: BuaNews
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