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Russia and SA to strengthen bilateral trade
February 4, 2013, 11:22 am

[AP]

[AP]

Russian and South African officials have met to discuss ways of enhancing cooperation in various fields as Russia shows growing interest in the African continent’s mining industry.

Sergey Donskoy, Russia’s minister of natural resources and environment and Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, South Africa’s international relations and cooperation minister met in Pretoria on Sunday.

Mining companies from Russia will take part in this year’s Investing in African Mining Indaba (conference) scheduled for February 4-7 in Cape Town, organisers have said.

South Africa is the largest trading economy in Africa and accounts for 25 per cent of the continent’s GDP making it one of the most active and strongest players in Africa.

The ministers are also expected to finalise priority projects and agreements that will be concluded during President Vladimir Putin’s official visit to South Africa in March.

Agreements under consideration are in the fields of agriculture, education, energy, fisheries, justice, minerals resources, science and technology, and transport.

Donskoy is in South Africa to attend a meeting of the South Africa-Russia Intergovernmental Committee on Trade and Economic Cooperation (ITEC).

The ITEC is a bilateral cooperation mechanism between South Africa and Russia that meets annually in order to strengthen mutually beneficial economic, commercial and social relations as well as technical cooperation between the two countries.

Russia is to become Europe’s leading economy by 2030, surpassing Germany, and pushing the UK out of the top 10 by 2050, according to a new report titled Brics and Beyond released by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

With inputs from Agencies