He’s seen foreign affairs chief Maite Nkoana Mashebane and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

Britain’s Finance Minister Philip Hammond will see business leaders at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange this evening and move on to Cape Town tomorrow.

He’ll meet investors into Britain at functions organized by the Tutu Foundation and the Nelson Mandela Foundation

Hammond will impress on them Britain’s commitment to forming even stronger global ties as the country prepares to leave the European Union.

He’ll make similar trips to Japan and South Korea next week.

South Africa is Britain biggest export market in Africa and bilateral trade reached nearly R 138- billion last year.

The post Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer seeks to reassure South Africa that Brexit won’t hurt their ties appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

She was speaking after talks in Pretoria with Moscow’s Natural Resources and Environment Minister Sergey Donskoy.

Foreign affairs chief Maite Nkoana Mashebane says South Africa is looking  at nuclear energy as a safe and clean addition to the country’s power generation needs.

The process has been and will continue to be an open one.

As to past experience she says:

“Through the supply of highly enriched uranium to Koeberg, Russia has safely delivered on this and there has never been a problem,” she says.

Russian Natural Resources and Environment Minister Sergey Donskoy says the uranium supply is further evidence of his country’s reliability.

He believes $1 billion a year is a realistic for bilateral dealings between South Africa and Russia.

The post Russian and South African ministers talk nuclear cooperation in Pretoria appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

He’s due to give a press conference in Harare this afternoon with President Robert Mugabe after this talks.

The binational commission that commits  the presidents of Zimbabwe and South Africa to annual discussions on bilateral issues was established when President Robert Mugabe made a state visit to South Africa last year.

Opening the meeting yesterday, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana Mashebane said the commission provides the required impetus to help the two countries forge a closer strategic cooperation and partnership.

She said the meeting would  pay a particular focus on the One Stop Border Post at Beitbridge.

The post Zuma in Zimbabwe for binational commission appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

They’ll be joined tomorrow by Presidents Jacob Zuma and Robert Mugabe.

South Africa and Zimbabwe decided during President Robert Mugabe’s state visit to South Africa last year to elevate their structured bilateral cooperation through an annual BiNational Commission.

The two countries have signed more than 38 Memoranda of Understanding and Agreements covering a broad range of areas, including trade and investment, immigration and consular matters, defence, agriculture, the environment, energy, health, as well as arts and culture.

South Africa is one of the top investors in the Zimbabwean economy. In 2015, South African exports to Zimbabwe amounted to approximately R25.6 billion while imports amounted to approximately R4.3 billion, indicating an improvement compared to the preceding year.

The post South Africa and Zimbabwe ministers kick off binational commission appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

They say the troops must come from the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region and the Southern African Development Community.

Two days of talks in Luanda, at which South Africa’s Minister for International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana Mashebane was present, ended with a statement that the goal is to strengthen the operations of the UN force MONUSCO in fighting the negative forces in the DRC.

11 countries participated in the talks.

MONUSCO currently has more than 20,000 troops in the DRC protecting civilians and disarming dozens of rebel and splinter groups after two decades of conflict in the east of the country.

The post Call to bolster MONUSCO for fear of violence over DRC election delay appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

They be briefed by President Joseph Kabila who’s facing strong local resistance to his decision to delay elections due before the end of this year.

Foreign affairs chief maite Nkoana Mashebane heads the South African delegation that includes State Security Minister David Mahlobo and senior officials from the Department of Defence and Military Veterans.

South Africa mediated peace negotiations that brought peace to the DRC.

Three years ago it signed the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework Agreement seeking to address the recurring cycles of conflict and violence in the eastern DRC.

The AU, SADC, the International Conference of the Great Lakes and the UN act as guarantors of the process involving 11 regional players.

The post SA delegation in place for DRC peace and security framework meeting appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The agenda not been finalised, so it is not clear if the FIFA scandal and handing South Africa the opportunity to host the 2010 Football World Cup will be raised at the African Union summit in Sandton next weekend.
Explaining to this to reporters, foreign affairs cghief Maite Nkoana Mashebane joined the ranks of her colleagues defending government’ action on this issue.

The South African government’s cooperating the FIFA and Swiss investigations into alleged irregularities in awarding the hosting of the World Cup, insists Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana Mashebane.
She’s unstinting in her assessment of what the 2010 World Cup meant.
(take in success clip here)
The there are three questions, she says, was this an African World Cup, was it successful and was it run competently. All three receive a resounding yes.

The post World Cup 2010 was an African triumph – Mashebane appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The post South Africa condemns coup plot in Burundi appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Briefing journalists, she says she and her ANC colleagues don’t understand the meaning of the word xenophobia.

Foreign affairs chief Maite Nkoane Mashebane was responding to a question from a Mozambican journalistsabout xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

She says she has historic roots on both sides of South Africa’s eastern border.

(take in the xeno clip here)

The minister says operation Fiela, that’s taken police to migrants workers hostels and informal settlements is a crime fighting instrument.

Any sovereign state is bound to use weapons like this to fight crime and stop democratic freedom turning into anarchy.

The post We don’t know what xenophobia means, says SA foreign affairs chief appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

South Africa isn’t waiting for sanctions to be lifted to do business with Iran, says Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana Mashebane.

She tells the 12^th meeting of the joint commission in Tehran that bilateral trade has already grown by more than 50% over the past year.

Foreign affairs chief Maite Nkoana Mashebane notes South Africa and Iran have not allowed outside pressures to interfere with their close friendship.

She led the biggest and strongest South African delegation to ever go to Iran.

It comprises 45 officials from six government departments, a group of Parliamentarians and about 60 businesspeople.

Nkoana Mashebane asserts the time has come to take whatever action is necessary to propel the Iran-South Africa relationship to greater heights.

The joint commission’s identified seven working groups focussing on initiatives in education, health, investment, mining, transport, agriculture, science and technology, and energy.

The post SA not waiting for sanctions to end before trading with Iran appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.