Communiqué of the 9th Session of Joint Ministerial Commission between the Republic of South Africa and the Republic of India, Durban, 18-19 May 2015

At the invitation of Her Excellency Ms. Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, the Honourable Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of South Africa, Her Excellency Smt. Sushma Swaraj, the Honourable Minister of External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs of the Republic of India, visited the Republic of South Africa officially from 18 to 19 May 2015, in order to co-chair the 9th Session of the Joint Ministerial Commission.

Extracts from the final communiqué are presented below.

B: ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL

Trade

The Ministers assessed the level of economic and commercial relations between the two countries. They emphasised the need to develop strategies to significantly expand trade cooperation. This would include the establishment of JWG for promotion of bilateral trade and investment.

They agreed to address obstacles and challenges through bilateral exchanges and meetings between their respective public and private sectors, including under the existing mechanisms.

Both sides encouraged the exchange of trade missions, participation in trade fairs hosted by the other side, and promotion of competitive products to each other in order to expand trade volume, improve trade structure, promote balanced and sustainable development of the bilateral trade, and strive to further increase the current bilateral trade volume.

To strengthen mutual understanding, promote friendly cooperation, and pursue mutual development of the film industry, both sides will encourage further film exchanges and cooperation, including the signing of a film co-production agreement, and hosting as well as participating in national and international film festivals etc.

Both sides agreed on the need to expedite the consultations and hold the 6th round of negotiations on India-SACU PTA at the earliest possible opportunity.

Both sides agreed to participate in each other’s key sectoral exhibitions, including Mining, Tourism, Capital Equipment, Agro-Processing, Oil and Gas and Defence sectors.

Both sides agreed to co-operate in their respective regional bodies including SACU, Southern African Development Cooperation (SADC), and SAARC, in accordance with the relevant rules and practices of the concerned regional bodies.

Investment

Both sides undertook to provide preferential policies and measures, equitable legal environment, and pragmatic and efficient government services for investors from the other side, to invest and do business in their respective countries. The two sides will encourage and support their enterprises to increase direct investments in fields such as agriculture, fishery, energy, mining, particularly mineral beneficiation, manufacturing, infrastructure building, including water conservancy, electricity, telecommunications, roads, railways, ports and airports, and finance and tourism, with the aim of significantly increasing two-way investment, and creating more job opportunities, tax revenues and foreign reserves for both sides.

Industry

The Ministers agreed to explore cooperation on industrial development and technology transfer.

Both sides expressed their willingness to encourage their respective private sectors to participate in, and prioritise areas such as the defence sector, deep mining, and infrastructure.

Small Business Development

Both sides noted that the National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC), Government of India had signed a MoU with Black Business Council (BBC) of South Africa for developing and promoting MSMEs in South Africa for unemployed youth on January 19, 2015.

Minerals and Energy

Both sides agreed to explore areas of further collaboration in the field of renewable energy technologies such as wind, solar and bio-energy and collaboration in energy efficiency. It was also agreed to support the growth of investment in both the renewable energy and the energy efficiency sectors.

Both sides agreed to explore further cooperation in the coal sector through encouraging investment in mining, collaboration in the area of clean coal technology, deep mining and coal-to-liquid technology as well as in sharing expertise, advanced technologies and best practices in the coal sector.

Both sides expressed interest in collaboration in upstream and downstream industries with regard to oil refining activities and to encourage the growing partnership between PetroSA and ONGC Videsh.

Finance and Banking

Both sides agreed to enhance relations between the financial institutions of the two countries and expressed their willingness to strengthen links between the financial sectors, particularly with regards to the banking sector, in order to further expand mutual trade and investments opportunities.

Science and Technology

The Chairs agreed that due to the comprehensive cooperation that is already in existence between South Africa and India, a Sub-committee on Science, Technology and Innovation be launched that will participate as a full member in future Joint Ministerial Commissions.

Agriculture

Both sides declared their readiness to strengthen personnel and technology exchanges, and to promote capacity building in the agriculture sector through exchanging delegations, hosting technology and management workshops and strengthening cooperation between research institutes, universities and colleges of the two countries.

Both sides expressed their willingness to strengthen cooperation in areas such as aquaculture and aquatic product processing and to support exchanges of delegations and cooperation in the fishery sector.

Information and Communications Technology

Both sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in the field of Information and Communications Technology. They agreed to pursue support programmes and commit to the establishment of a sectoral committee to support new ICT research areas. Through the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the fields of ICT, both sides will enhance the focus on skills development and expertise exchange to cultivate more specialists to utilise the ever-advancing information and communication technology. The two sides noted the considerable scope for joint cooperation projects in the area of ICTs between the two countries. The following focus areas have been identified:

• Bridging the digital divide through last-mile connectivity authentication and through use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS);
• Popularising ICTs in schools;
• Technology parks;
• Cyber security;
• e-Governance including e-Postal;
• Telemedicine; and
• Exchange of experts for sharing best practices; and
• Promoting business-to-business cooperation through mobility of professionals 

Implementation Mechanism

Both sides agreed to fully utilise the mechanisms of the JMC and to strengthen coordination, monitor implementation and review the proposed Five Year Strategic Programme on Cooperation between the Republic of South Africa and the Republic of India to identify and address problems, promote cooperation, and ensure comprehensive and effective implementation of the Program in a timely manner.