India, South Africa sign pacts; back UN reforms

Jun 4, 2010, 13:29 GMT

New Delhi - India and South Africa on Friday signed three accords, vowed to boost trade ties and work jointly to reform the UN Security Council.

South African President Jacob Zuma and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held talks in New Delhi which focused on closer coordination on global issues.

Following the talks, three agreements on increasing air-service links, promoting cooperation in the fields of agriculture and diplomatic services were signed.

'President Zuma's visit marks a new milestone in India's relations with South Africa,' Singh said.

'We have agreed to focus on the expansion of our economic, trade and investment relationship. Our economies have come of age,' he added.

India and South Africa also launched a business forum to push their bilateral trade from currently 7.5 billion dollars to beyond 10 billion dollars by 2012.

Zuma described his visit as 'more than successful' and said it resolved all pending relations between the countries.

'The links between India and South Africa are rooted in history,' Singh said. 'We can never forget that South Africa was the land of the awakening of the Father of our Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, for which we owe a deep debt of gratitude to its people.'

Singh and Zuma stressed the importance of revamping global institutions to reflect contemporary realities and reiterated support for their countries' candidacies for rotating non-permanent seats in the UN Security council for 2011-2012.

The two countries are also trying for permanent berths in the global body.

'We will step up our efforts for the reform of global institutions of governance, including the UN Security Council,' Singh said.

India and South Africa work closely in several international forums such as the UN, World Trade Organization, the IBSA comprising India, Brazil, South Africa, the BASIC group that includes all three plus China and the Group of 20.

Zuma was scheduled to meet his counterpart Pratibha Patil and other senior leaders before flying back to South Africa Friday night.