Brussels, 14/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - During their bilateral summit - the fifth of its kind - to be held in Brussels (at Château de Val Duchesse) on Tuesday 18 September, the European Union and South Africa will tackle the question of deepening the strategic partnership between them, political and security issues on the international agenda such as the Middle East and Iran's nuclear programme, as well as global issues of common interest such as climate change.
The summit will be attended by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, Commission President José Manuel Barroso, and South Africa's President Jacob Zuma. During her visit to Pretoria (end August), EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton had prepared this summit meeting with the South African foreign minister, Maité Nkoana-Mashabane (see EUROPE 10675).
Given the economic importance of the EU/South Africa partnership, the summit will focus largely on trading relations between the two parties, with the participation of Karel De Gucht, European Trade Commissioner. Development issues will be discussed with Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.
Statistics on trade and investment between South Africa and the EU published by Eurostat upstream of the summit point to an increasing surplus in EU goods trade with South Africa (€3.4 billion during the first half of 2012, compared with €2.7 billion during the first half of 2011). Among EU member states, Germany is by far the main exporter towards South Africa (€4.3 billion - i.e. 33% of EU27 exports), followed by the United Kingdom (€1.9 billion, 14%), then the Netherlands (€1.3 billion, 10%), and France (€1 billion, 8%). (AN/transl.jl)