Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma used the Easter weekend to consolidate ties with the Gulf region on an unexpected state visit to Saudi Arabia and a working visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Zuma was accompanied by five cabinet ministers and a delegation of 20 business people.
Read: Zuma woos Saudi and UAE investors
This was the first state visit to Saudi Arabia by a South African president since Nelson Mandela visited in 1997. Thabo Mbeki undertook a working visit in 2007.
King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud bestowed on Zuma the King Abdulaziz First Order of Merit, the highest award given to heads of state and kings by the Saudi kingdom.
The South African delegation marketed the country as a promising emerging market for investors and a sought-after tourist destination.
A South Africa-Saudi business seminar was held in Riyadh and a meeting with the UAE business community was held in Dubai.
Addressing a high-level meeting of the South Africa-Saudi Arabia business community, Zuma emphasised the need to create a platform to enhance business co-operation to increase South Africa's exports to the Saudi market and attract Saudi investors to South Africa.
He told investors that “South Africa remains in the top 30 economies globally”.
“A combination of highly developed First World economic infrastructure and a big emerging market has given rise to a strong entrepreneurial and dynamic investment environment.”
The targeted sectors which Zuma identified for collaboration included skills and technology transfers, petrochemical and gas exploration and alternative energy sectors, mining management and technologies, mining equipment and minerals mapping and beneficiation, the automotive industry and manufacturing, chemicals, the medical and pharmaceuticals sector, infrastructure development, construction, engineering and transport sectors, financial, banking and insurance sectors, and defence procurement and partnerships.
Saudi Arabia enjoys a trade surplus of nearly $70 billion against South Africa, according to the Department of Trade and Industry, the reason for the imbalance being that oil imports from Saudi Arabia constitute 95 percent of South Africa’s total imports from that country.
South Africa also seeks to diversify its exports to Saudi Arabia as nearly 62 percent of our export basket consists of primary commodities.
According to Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies, there is a need to increase the proportion of high value-added products in the export basket.
This month, the Saudi firm ACWA Power announced a $15bn investment in a solar plant in Groblershoop in the Northern Cape, with the capacity to power 200 000 households, the Presidency said.
South Africa-UAE trade has risen from $1.8bn in 2011 to $2.2bn last year. Seventy percent of South Africa’s imports from the UAE is oil, and its exports include base metals, steel, machinery, chemicals and defence equipment.
THE STAR