Pretoria - At the centre of UK Minister for Africa's visit to South Africa will be strengthening North -South relations and consolidating the African Agenda.
Minister Henry Bellingham's five-day official visit to South Africa will kick off with bilateral, political and economic discussions with International Relations and Cooperation Deputy Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim
Other issues on the agenda include climate change and international institutional reform including the G20 and UNSC.
The UK remains one of the top two largest foreign investors for South Africa with over 200 South African companies having established a presence in the UK. Between 1998 and 2008 trade between the two nations increased by 173 percent from R25.492 billion to R69.630 billion.
The development co-operation between South Africa and the UK has resulted in the UK Government through its Department for International Development (DFID) providing aid to developing countries across Africa. DFID contributes e20 million a year towards regional programmes in South Africa as part of its Southern African programmes.
The DFID has several operational projects in SA in both government and civil society including promoting growth, jobs and equity as well as HIV and Aids programmes to support government and its civil society partners.