Aug 20, 2009
By Henrique Almeida
LUANDA (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma flew into oil-producing Angola on Wednesday on his first state visit since taking office, aiming to improve once-strained ties with the increasingly important regional power.
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Zuma brought 11 ministers and a delegation of South African businessmen to Angola, which recently topped Nigeria as Africa's biggest oil producer and is rebuilding after nearly three decades of civil war ended in 2002.
Zuma's personal relations with President Jose Eduardo dos Santos are far better than between the Angolan leader and former South African counterpart Thabo Mbeki.
Zuma, who took office in May, has focused largely on domestic priorities so the fact his first official state visit is to Angola is a sign of its importance.
"This visit is a watershed," said Alex Vines, head of the Africa programme at London-based think tank Chatham House, referring to Zuma's high-powered delegation.
"Angola is an emerging strategic partner to South Africa after the frosty Mbeki era. It's likely that southern African regional economic and security co-operation will benefit from this warming relationship."
Pretoria has billed the trip as the biggest business delegation to take part in a state visit since the end of apartheid in South Africa in 1994.
South Africa has sat on the sidelines as Angola awarded lucrative offshore oil contracts to U.S. oil giants such as Chevron while Chinese and Portuguese firms continue to rebuild roads, bridges and dams destroyed by the war.
INVESTMENT
"The time has come for South Africa to invest in Angola," Angolan Economy Minister Manuel Nunes Junior said. "What we really want is to establish a winning partnership."
South Africa, which has little oil and relies on coal for most of its energy needs, wants a bigger role in Angola's oil industry while Angola wants to attract investment and qualified labour from South Africa.
Angola had its first trade surplus with South Africa in 2007. Almost 90 percent of the $1.5 billion Angolan exports were petroleum products, according to South African figures.
"Certainly the energy interest is big for South Africa. Angola hasn't been a big crude oil supplier to South Africa but South Africa wants a bigger share," said Mark Schroeder, southern Africa analyst at STRATFOR global intelligence company.
"Both countries also realise they have big influence in southern Africa."
Officials in Luanda said Zuma and dos Santos would assess progress in the Zimbabwean unity government as well as peacekeeping efforts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo when they meet on Thursday.
Angola played a major role in fighting apartheid and setbacks for South African forces there in the late 1980s helped end white minority rule, but relations worsened after Mbeki became president in 1999. Animosity between Mbeki and Dos Santos dated from the years of the struggle.
Reuters
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