South African International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and her Australian counterpart, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith, on Tuesday launched an Australian-South Africa Foreign Minister's dialogue to advance the countries' common interest and to regularly review progress on the bilateral relationships.

Speaking to the media at an event hosted by the South African Institute for International Affairs in Pretoria, Smith said that Australia was committed to broadening and deepening its engagement with Africa more broadly.

"For too long, Australia did not give Africa the priority it required and deserved. This Australian government, however, is deeply committed to enhanced engagement with the countries and regional institutions of Africa."

Smith noted that the need for Australia to engage more substantially with Africa was driven by its economic and strategic interest. He added that while Australia was a country with about 20-million people, the African continent's population was nearly a billion people.
"To survive as a prosperous nation into the future, economically and politically we cannot ignore a continent of nearly a billion people made up of more than 50 countries."

A strengthened partnership with Australia's closest economic partner in Africa, South Africa was a central part of this endeavour, Smith said.

South Africa was by far Australia's largest and most dynamic market in Africa, with trade growing an average of 7% over the past five years. Smith noted that during 2008/9, two-way trade between the countries was worth more than A$4-billion.

Australia was also an important export market for South Africa, with the largest contributor to this being vehicles. South African exports to Australia also outweighed those to any country in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Exports also outweighed Brazil and Canada.

"We also have a strong two-way relationship in investment, particularly in the minerals resources sector," Smith added.

INVESTMENT IN AFRICA

Australia has a long-standing and effective bilateral development assistance programme with South Africa, which focused on support for capacity building and skills development.

Smith said that in conjunction with the office of the Deputy President, Australia was now offering an increased number of postgraduate opportunities that were aligned with the skills development priorities of the South African government.

In terms of Australia's broader regional strategy, the country would commit over A$160-million in development assistance to Africa during the 2009/10 year, an increase of more than 40% from the previous year.

"Our assistance deliberately focuses on areas where Australia is best able to make a difference. This includes assisting African countries to reach their Millennium Development Goals, particularly in the areas of food security, water and sanitation, and child and maternal health."

Smith added that Australia also expanded its scholarship programme in Africa, offering up to 1 000 awards a year by 2012/13. "This is a ten-fold increase from the previous 100 awards a year."

He noted that an Australian-African partnership facility has also been created to ensure that Australia could respond to niche areas that African countries had identified as critical constraints.

"This will enable countries access to Australian expertise in areas such as mining and natural resource management, trade policy and governance," Smith said.

Food security, which was central to eradicating poverty and hunger in Africa, was also an area where Australia and South Africa were already beginning to work together effectively.

Smith said that in support of this, Australia's Food Security, through a rural development initiative, was providing A$100-million over four years, to support Africa's efforts to increase food security.

"Under that initiative, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research will work with the South African Agricultural Research Council to build agricultural research capacity in Africa, including in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique."

Australia would further contribute A$6-million over the next two years, towards peace building on the continent, and within the boundaries of the United Nations (UN).

Around A$4-million would be provided over three years to the UN Peace Building Fund and a further A$2-million would be provided to support peace building initiatives identified by the Peace Building Commission, focusing specifically on Burundi and Sierra Leone.

But the Australian government would also focus on the political stabilisation of Zimbabwe. Smith noted that since the establishment of an inclusive government in Zimbabwe, Australia has provided more than A$33-milion in assistance, including A$5-million in funding through the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund.

"I announce today a further commitment of up to A$6-million in additional funding to cooperate with South Africa in supporting the recovery of the Zimbabwe economy and basic services," Smith said.

He added that the funding was aimed to support collaboration between the South African and Zimbabwe taxation authorities to build Zimbabwe's taxation administration. It would also mobilise South African technical experts to support recovery efforts in the water, agriculture and economic governance sectors.

"Zimbabwe's needs, by any measure, are enormous. The Australian government, like South Africa's, is under no illusions about the political risk in Zimbabwe. By working together, we can help that devastated country rebuild and secure a brighter future."

Smith said that several of the most imposing problems facing the world today, were complex and had a global stretch and lasting solutions to these issues could only be found through coordinated regional and global action.

"With our shared commitment to multilateralism, Australia and South Africa have important roles to play in shaping genuinely global solutions to those problems, and in addressing economic, political and security challenges in our won regions."

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