Publications
Partners
Pretoria - The US continues to be an important source of foreign direct investment to South Africa, International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said on Tuesday.
"The US is a major economic partner for South Africa and continues to feature high on the list of trade and investment partners," she told reporters in Pretoria.
"It is a major export market for South African products and an important source of foreign direct investment."
She described relations between South Africa and the US as "solid, strong and positive", and said the Obama administration had expressed interest in partnering with South Africa "domestically and regionally".
US President Barack Obama is due to arrive in South Africa on Friday for an official visit as part of his three-nation tour. He was expected to leave Washington on Wednesday for Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania.
President Jacob Zuma and Obama were expected to hold bilateral talks in Pretoria on Saturday.
"The two leaders will discuss the status of bilateral relations between South Africa and the United States," Nkoana-Mashabane said.
They would discuss health, education, trade, peace and development assistance.
The visit would provide an opportunity for both countries to reflect on work done to combat Aids.
"The United States continues to support South Africa's domestic priorities and has made an effort to align its assistance programmes and projects with these priority areas," Nkoana-Mashabane said.
"South Africa and the US face a number of common challenges, such as the quest to improve public education and health, create jobs, develop skills, and safety and security issues."
The US strategy on sub-Saharan Africa, which Obama announced last June, acknowledged that Africa was more important than ever to the security and prosperity of the international community, and to the US in particular.
Nkoana-Mashabane said the thrust of South Africa's foreign policy was the pursuit of the African Agenda.
"Our foreign policy is informed by our domestic priorities, which seek to address the five key areas identified by government."
Nkoana-Mashabane said that in recent years economic co-operation had received increased attention on the back of a stable political relationship with the US, and an ever-increasing solidarity between the two countries.
"We have seen significant expansion of trade ties and investment links between our respective countries.
"Trade and investment has featured prominently on our agenda because we believe that this will assist in dealing with the effects of slow economic growth and growing unemployment in both our countries."
There were currently around 600 US companies trading in South Africa, creating over 120 000 local jobs and contributing about 30% to corporate social investment.
In 2011, total trade with the US was in excess of R130bn, with South Africa enjoying a trade surplus of around R18bn. This was a 14.4% increase compared to the previous year.
South Africa was also the US's biggest market in Africa, accounting for about R73bn of exports.
