South Africa would grant visa to Indian businessmen who intend to explore prospects in the country for mutual business gains within four days of submitting an application.
"Since South Africa enjoys a 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 between both countries," South African High Commissioner to India F K Morule said at a PHD Chamber session here today.
The High Commissioner further said that the South African diplomatic missions overseas would extend this facility to other friendly nations as well, a PHD Chamber release said.
"India's relations with South Africa have flourished over the years. The bilateral trade between India and South Africa has grown substantially from USD 7.5 billion in 2008-09 to USD 11.15 billion in 2013-14," Morule said.
"India ranks amongst the top 10 trading partners of South Africa and is now South Africa's fifth largest export destination and sixth largest source of imports. India's investments in South Africa are estimated at around USD 6 billion to date and are expected to touch USD 7 billion in the coming years," he added.
According to Morule, economic cooperation between the two countries could be diversified into areas such as transport equipment, computer software, engineering goods, metals, minerals, textiles, agro-processing, healthcare, water and sanitation.
Besides, Minister Counsellor (Economic) in the High Commission of South Africa Stefanus Botes expressed hope 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.
South African Customs Union (SACU), with a common Custom Tariff Policy, comprises of South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana and Namibia.
During the sixth session of the India-South Africa Joint Ministerial Commission Meeting held in New Delhi on 5-6 December 2005, both countries agreed that a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement within a reasonable time.
In the interim, the two sides agreed on a limited scope agreement providing for exchange of tariff concessions on select list of products between India and SACU which would give further impetus to bilateral trade and urged for its early conclusion. So far, five rounds of negotiations of India-SACU PTA have been held.
India and South Africa are also 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 and multilateral trade negotiations.
