Africa-Press – Mozambique. The South African deputy minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Candith Mashego-Dlamini, will discuss the state of bilateral cooperation between the two countries in Maputo this Wednesday, the South African Government announced yesterday.
In a statement to which Lusa has had access, the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said that Mashego-Dlamini will co-chair the mid-term review of the South Africa-Mozambique Bi-National Commission (BNC).
“Considering the close historical relations between the two countries, the main objective of the working visit is to review the progress achieved in the implementation of the commitments undertaken during the 3rd Session of the BNC held in South Africa in March 2022,” reads the note released yesterday evening.
According to the South African ministry, since December 2011, the bilateral relationship between South Africa and Mozambique has been conducted through the BNC, stressing that the two countries have signed more than 70 agreements and memoranda of understanding to date.
“In recent times, there has been a growing interaction between the Presidents of both countries, given that South Africa and Mozambique intend to increase the levels of trade and investment cooperation and guarantee peace and stability in the region,” it stresses.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has visited Mozambique several times since taking office in March 2018, namely for the signing of the Maputo Peace Accords in August 2019 and the inauguration of his counterpart Filipe Nyusi in January 2020.
Ramaphosa also made working visits to Mozambique during 2021, to participate in the various Summits of SADC Heads of State and Government in the Mozambican capital.
Since 2021, South Africa has sent more than 1,490 troops to the SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) to fight the ‘jihadist’ presence in the gas-rich region in the north of the country for more than three years.
DIRCO underlines in the statement that the relationship between the two countries also involves mutual emergency aid, highlighting assistance to Mozambique during Cyclone Idai in 2019, and Mozambique’s support to the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal after the floods in 2022.
The South African government recently pledged to abide by the decision of the highest court of South African justice to extradite to the United States former Mozambican finance minister Manuel Chang, detained in South Africa since 2018 at the request of Washington.
According to the order of the Constitutional Court dated 24 May 2023, to which Lusa has had access, the former Mozambican official must be extradited to the United States of America to be tried for alleged crimes in that country, as stated in the extradition request dated January 28, 2019.
Manuel Chang, 63 years old, was arrested on 29 December, 2018, at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, en route to Dubai, on the basis of an international arrest warrant issued by the US on 27 December for his alleged involvement in the so-called US$2.7 billion (€2.5 billion) ‘hidden debts’ contracted by Mozambique .
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