RIYADH, 17 February — South African President Thabo Mbeki will arrive here today at the head of a high-ranking delegation in a bid to strengthen bilateral relations.
His talks with Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, and high-ranking Saudi officials would deal with ways to increase bilateral trade, joint investments in mining, agriculture, oil and petrochemicals and military cooperation.
Referring to the growing political and economic ties between the two countries, diplomats based in Riyadh said President Mbeki's three-day official visit to the Kingdom was expected to boost the relations further.
They said that businessmen in the two countries had already evinced keen interest in setting up of new projects in different sectors. At least 19 major South African companies are currently operating in Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom and South Africa have set up some 10 joint venture projects so far with cumulative investments in the region of millions of riyals.
Riyadh and Pretoria resumed diplomatic relations in 1994 after the ouster of the apartheid regime in South Africa. The trade volume of $450 million reported in 1997 grew to over $1.8 billion last year. Pretoria imports one-tenth of its domestic oil needs from Saudi Arabia. There is, however, a joint move to boost Saudi oil supplies to Pretoria.
Mbeki's Riyadh visit will be followed by a stopover in Mali for talks with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, his office has announced.
