Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's trade mission to South Africa has continued to strengthen the solid partnership between the two countries since 1994, according to the Presidency.

Rutte's official visit to SA follows an invitation by President Jacob Zuma when they met at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January this year.

At a meeting on Tuesday Rutte and Zuma discussed economic, transport and logistics trade, science and technology, agriculture, water and sanitation, education, judicial, multilateral and cultural issues.

Zuma said he welcomed the existing Dutch investments in South Africa and pointed out that next year the Netherlands will lead the EU.

"We look forward to working with the Netherlands in that capacity as we enhance South Africa-EU relations," said Zuma. "We are happy that agreements have been signed today proving further mechanisms to structure our cooperation."

It was announced on Tuesday that Rutte has shortened his SA visit to one day. According to his spokesman, following the attacks in Paris, he found it better to be back earlier in The Netherlands. The Dutch Minister of Agriculture Martijn van Dam takes over as head of the Dutch trade mission from Rutte for Wednesday's leg of the visit.

According to the Presidency, the Netherlands is of particular interest to South Africa as a trade and investment partner. Total trade between the two countries increased consistently from R27.1bn in 2010 to R48.2bn in 2014.

The Netherlands has invested in about 40 projects in South Africa with direct investment volume estimated at over R15.4bn over the period 2003 to 2015. It was mainly in financial services, aerospace, transport, business services, biotechnology and technology. These projects have created an estimated 2 731 jobs.

In July 2014, a statement of intent was signed between the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands (MinEZ) and the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. It related to greenhouse solutions, development agro parks in Gauteng, vocational training for horticulture and business models for public private partnerships.

Another area of cooperation is the SA-Netherland Horticulture Business Platform, a group of South African and Dutch public and private stakeholders, promoting greenhouse farming in the country for food security and rural employment.

The Netherlands and South Africa also work closely together in sustainable water management, involving many private, public and educational partners.

As for transport, the Dutch transport and logistics sector has shown its commitment and confidence in the SA market by significantly investing in the country. There are at least 18 large companies with a physical presence in the country.

A key area of mutual interest is smart and sustainable port and other transport developments. Rotterdam’s environmental protection agency is currently concluding an MoU with the municipality of eThekwini and Transnet to provide environmental protection advice.

The Netherlands also identified renewable energy as key sector in 2012 and the country’s mission in SA commissioned market entry studies on four subsectors in 2013, namely waste-to-energy, bio energy, green buildings and wind energy. Several Dutch companies are currently investing or doing further feasibility studies in this sector.

News24.com