Kitt and Mbeki to discuss aid and business projects

South Africa:The president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, yesterday made a surprise request for a meeting with visiting Minister of State Tom Kitt to discuss ways to strengthen ties between the two countries.

Mr Kitt, who is touring the country as part of the St Patrick's festival celebrations, was not scheduled to meet the president during his week-long stay in South Africa.

However, following the request he said he was "delighted" to rearrange his itinerary and meet President Mbeki on Sunday in Johannesburg, rather than fly home to Ireland straight from Cape Town.

Mr Kitt said the meeting would focus on various aspects of Ireland's involvement in South Africa but especially on the need for Ireland to continue to support various aid projects.

"A special partnership agreement has already been signed between the two countries, and we need to set the procedures in place to make progress.

"I am going to propose that we begin to formally meet in October this year to do this," he told The Irish Times.

Mr Kitt said he also expected the meeting to involve the exploration of private-sector engagement between the two countries, in the form of how best to add another business tier to what already exists.

He added that the South African president was interested in discussing how Ireland transformed itself from an agriculture-based economy to one based in high-tech industry.

"Around 40,000 Irish people visit South Africa every year and about 30,000 South Africans are coming to Ireland, so what we have going between the two countries in the tourism sector is very strong.

"But Irish business people living here want more business opportunities to avail of, so we need to create them," he said.

Last night Mr Kitt met more than 150 Irish guests at a reception in the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town for what was considered the highlight of his tour.

He told the guests it was paramount that Ireland continue to support aid projects in southern Africa because it was time "to give something back" to the continent.