Mbeki to meet new EU leader
2004-11-15 13:33
Johannesburg - President Thabo Mbeki travelled to Belgium on Monday for a three-day official visit to get to know the new leadership of the European Union, South Africa's biggest trading partner.
Mbeki will also touch on the situation in Africa's Great Lakes region during talks with EU and Belgian leaders ahead of his trip later this week to Dar es Salaam to take part in an international conference on stabilising the area.
Mbeki is leading a top-level delegation to Brussels that includes the foreign, defense, trade and minerals ministers for talks with incoming European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso later on Monday.
Barroso however has yet to be confirmed in his position as the head of the European Union's executive. The European parliament is due to vote on Thursday on the composition of the new European Commission.
"The president is looking forward to developing a very good working relationship with Mr Barroso when he takes over as president of the European Commission," said presidential spokesperson Bheki Khumalo.
Bilateral issues
Other than bilateral issues, the spokesperson singled out EU funding to support African peacekeeping as well as the New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) as continent-wide issues.
Mbeki is due on Wednesday to address the European parliament whose 732 members were elected in June from the 25 countries that now make up the European Union, up from 15 following the expansion in May.
During talks with EU officials, Mbeki is also to discuss the Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) that South Africa signed with the European Union in 1999, giving EU products greater access to the South African market.
The European Union is South Africa's biggest trading partner, accounting for 40% of Pretoria's total trade.
Mbeki will also meet with leaders of the African diaspora in Europe and travel to the northern Belgian city of Antwerp in the evening to address an international diamond conference.
On Tuesday, he meets with King Albert II and Belgian government officials and is due to preside over the creation of a joint commission.
He ends his visit with a trip to The Hague to meet on Thursday with Queen Beatrix and Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.