South Africa and Tunisia, working together, could contribute to Africa’s development, visiting South African Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe told his hosts in Tunis Thursday.
Dep Pres Motlanthe, who ended his two-day working visit to Tunisia on Thursday, said the two countries could contribute to Africa’s development through bilateral action and through the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), an AU-affiliate body based in South Africa.
The deputy president co-chaired a working session with Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi to assess progress achieved in various areas of cooperation between the two African states.
The deputy president described Tunisia as a shining example of a developing country, adding that South Africa wanted to learn from it.
“It is our desire to learn and share experiences from these established benchmarks and to see how the various strategies could be applied to our situation in South Africa,” Motlanthe said.
Both nations cooperate in the fields of health, social development, defence, science and technology, culture and sport.
Their Joint Bilateral Commission (JBC) to formalise relations between them was set up in 2006.
In the health field, South Africa has more than 80 Tunisian medical doctors working in rural areas.
Currently several draft agreements on scientific and technological cooperation, information and telecommunications technology, vocational training, arts and culture and youth development cooperation have been finalised.
“Although we have so far concluded 20 agreements on cooperation in areas of mutual interest, we continue to explore new areas of cooperation,” Motlanthe said.
The deputy president also assured Tunisia that South Africa was ready to host the World Cup in June.
“It is the first time that this event is taking place on the African continent and it will not be the last.
We are certain that in future countries such as Tunisia will have the opportunity to host such an event as the World Cup,” he said.
Source: www.apanews.netfor Africa’s Development (NEPAD), an AU-affiliate body based in South Africa. The deputy president co-chaired a working session with Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi to assess progress achieved in various areas of cooperation between the two African states. The deputy president described Tunisia as a shining example of a developing country, adding that South Africa wanted to learn from it. “It is our desire to learn and share experiences from these established benchmarks and to see how the various strategies could be applied to our situation in South Africa,” Motlanthe said. Both nations cooperate in the fields of health, social development, defence, science and technology, culture and sport. Their Joint Bilateral Commission (JBC) to formalise relations between them was set up in 2006. In the health field, South Africa has more than 80 Tunisian medical doctors working in rural areas. Currently several draft agreements on scientific and technological cooperation, information and telecommunications technology, vocational training, arts and culture and youth development cooperation have been finalised. “Although we have so far concluded 20 agreements on cooperation in areas of mutual interest, we continue to explore new areas of cooperation,” Motlanthe said. The deputy president also assured Tunisia that South Africa was ready to host the World Cup in June. “It is the first time that this event is taking place on the African continent and it will not be the last. We are certain that in future countries such as Tunisia will have the opportunity to host such an event as the World Cup,” he said.
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