South Africa looking forward to greater diplomatic ties with Malaysia

South African President Jacob Zuma is looking forward to greater diplomatic ties between South Africa and Malaysia, especially in trade and investment, and policies. As both countries celebrated their two decades of diplomatic ties, he said the relationship between South Africa and Malaysia had grown rapidly in many fields and solidified into multi-relationships. Looking upon Malaysia as a "trusted friend", Zuma said strong party-to-party ties between the African National Congress and Umno was also the foundation of the relationship which both parties still enjoyed till today. Malaysia is the first country to assist South Africa economically. While the world is taking a wait-and-see approach, Malaysia has lead the way. This visit is important because it is vital for us to re-inject new energy in our initiatives. I have invited Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to visit South Africa for the same reason, he said at a joint press conference in conjunction with his three-day official visit to Malaysia in the Prime Ministers Office at the Perdana Putra Complex here today. The South African president noted that although the relationship enjoyed by South Africa and Malaysia was relatively new, they shared similar appreciation and characteristics. His fourth visit to Malaysia is perceived to strengthen the existing bilateral relations between Malaysia and South Africa and clearly reflected the cordial relations between the two countries. Earlier, Zuma and Najib held a four-eyed-meeting which was later followed by a bilateral meeting. Meanwhile, Zuma said during the meeting that both leaders also discussed issues which included education, energy, tourism, science and technology, transport, human resources and skills development. We plan to carry out further investments in Malaysia. There is a business delegation here discussing specific issues, he added.