French President Nicholas Sarkozy, accompanied by 40 key French business chief executives, is expected to pay a State Visit to South Africa starting on Thursday, South Africa’s foreign affairs director general, Gert Grobler, has said.
Speaking in Pretoria, Grobler said South Africa was looking forward to the visit, describing the cooperation of the two countries on a variety of issues as “excellent.”
South African officials were working frantically with their French counterparts to see if several agreements between the two countries could be finalized in time for them to be signed during Sarkozy’s visit, he said.
Sarkozy will arrive in Cape Town on Thursday where he will meet President Thabo Mbeki to discuss political economic and business ties.
The two presidents will oversee the signing of several agreements between their two countries before Sarkozy addresses a joint sitting of Parliament in the afternoon.
The agreements, which Grobler said would hopefully be finalized and ready for signing, include cooperation on energy, science, transport, tourism and fishing.
A memorandum of understanding on South Africa’s Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa) program was also being finalized – as was an agreement on the Kyoto Protocol programs, he said.
On Friday the two leaders are expected to head a meeting in Cape Town of the South Africa-France Business Forum which will see chief executives from France interacting with their South African counterparts.
France is South Africa’s eighth largest trading partner, with bilateral trade between the two countries amounting to US$4.2 billion in 2006/2007.
Sarkozy, accompanied by his new wife Carla Bruni, is expected to fly to Johannesburg later on Friday to meet with former President Nelson Mandela, Grobler said.
Source African Press Agency
