By IANS,
New Delhi : India and South Africa Friday signed three agreements aimed at enhancing business ties and connectivity. The two countries also reiterated support for each other for a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council and agreed to jointly work for the reforms of the global body.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and South African President Jacob Zuma, who is on his first visit to an Asian country, held talks covering a wide swathe of bilateral and global issues, including the intensification of economic ties and closer coordination over global issues, including the UN reforms.
“Today, President Zuma and I have decided to impart a forward-looking character to these ties, and to further broadbase our cooperation,” said Manmohan Singh.
“We have agreed to focus on the expansion of our economic, trade and investment relationship,” he said, underlining South Africa’s “influential role in world affairs”.
Acknowledging the rising global clout of the two countries, Manmohan Singh and Zuma called for speeding up reform of the UN and international decision-making institutions to reflect contemporary realities.
“We will step up our efforts for the reform of global institutions, including that of the UN Security Council,” Manmohan Singh said.
“We agreed to support each other’s candidatures for the non-permanent seat for the 2011-12 term,” he said, describing Zuma’s maiden visit to India as “a milestone in India’s relations with South Africa”.
“We are one on this matter. The world that has changed must be reflected in its institutions,” said Zuma. “We can’t continue to be governed by the rules and regulations of the early 40s.”
“India has given leadership in the developing world on a number of issues. This leadership continues,” Zuma said while describing his three-day visit to India that began Wednesday as a “success”.
After the talks, the two sides signed three agreements, including a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on agricultural cooperation, an air services pact and an MoU between the Foreign Service Institute of India and the Diplomatic Academy of South Africa.
The agreements were signed in the presence of Manmohan Singh and Zuma.
The two leaders mandated the next meeting of the Joint Commission to develop concrete plans for implementation of the decisions taken by them.
The air services agreement provides for three additional stops for all flights, including Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban in South Africa and Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram in India.
Highlighting “historic and unique” relations between the two countries dating back to the struggle against apartheid, Zuma invited Manmohan Singh to visit South Africa earliest to further strengthen bilateral ties.
“We are very pleased with the outcome of the visit. I enjoyed the music and the food. We are at home in India,” said Zuma, who flies back Friday night after a presidential banquet in his honour.
Underscoring a new economic synergy, the two sides launched India-South Africa CEOs forum in Mumbai Thursday and decided to expand the $7.5 billion bilateral trade to $10 billion in the next couple of years. Zuma began his visit to India from Mumbai with 200-odd businessmen to give fresh momentum to trade and investment between India and South Africa.