Addressing an interactive session of the members of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry with High Commissioner of South Africa, Mr. F K Morule added that since his country enjoyed the most cordial relationship with India and its companies are expanding their businesses in South Africa, the decision to grant visa facilities has been taken to further cement business ties of both the countries.
The High Commissioner also added that the South African diplomatic missions overseas would extend this facility to other friendly countries also. India's relations with South Africa have flourished over the years. The bilateral trade between India and South Africa has grown substantially from US$ 7.5 billion in 2008-09 to US$ 11.15 billion in 2013-14. India ranks amongst the top ten trading partners of South Africa and is now South Africa's 5th largest export destination and 6th largest source of imports. India's investments in South Africa are estimated at around US$ 6 billion to date and are expected to touch US$ 7 billion in the coming years, pointed out Mr. Morule.
According to him, areas of economic cooperation between the two countries could be diversified in areas such as transport equipment, computer software, engineering goods, metals, minerals, textiles, agro-processing, healthcare, water and sanitation.
Speaking on the occasion Mr. Stefanus Botes, Minister Counsellor (Economic), High Commission of South Africa expressed hopes that with new governments in place both in South Africa and India negotiation on India-SACU Preferential Trade Agreement would progress to benefit both the economies.
He regretted that India-SACU Preferential Trade Agreement went in to slumber ever since the negotiations on it commenced a couple of years ago, without attributing any reason of slowdown on them and held the two countries responsible for it.
It may be pointed out here that India-SACU Preferential Trade Agreement consists of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland. So far, five rounds of negotiations of India-SACU PTA have been held. Also, India and South Africa are engaged in various multilateral fora such as IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa), G-20, and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and have a common approach on many global issues, including the future of multilateralism, South-South Cooperation, multilateral trade negotiations.
Mr. Alok B Shriram, Sr. Vice President, PHD Chamber who presided over the Interactive Session also proposed a Vote of Thanks in which Mr. Sanjeev Sardana, Chairman, International Affairs Committee for Africa, PHD Chamber also took part. The Executive Director of the Chamber Mr. Saurabh Sanyal was also present in the session.
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