National
Germany commits nearly R1 billion to SA─── 07:09 Sat, 22 Nov 2014
Pretoria - Germany has committed to provide nearly R1 billion to South Africa for various joint projects, the German embassy said on Friday.
"A total of 72.5 million euro, nearly R1bn rand, were committed by Germany to the government of South Africa for development co-operation," said embassy spokesman Rainer Breul.
A further 38.5m euro was promised for financial co-operation programmes and 34m euro for technical co-operation programmes.
A bi-national commission, chaired by Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his South African counterpart Maite Nkoane-Mashabane, finished on Friday.
A number of other government officials, public sector leaders, representatives from civil society organisations and academia, and artists attended the talks.
A wide-ranging set of topics was discussed including the Ebola epidemic, the political situation in South Sudan, and "troubling developments in the Great Lakes region".
The countries confirmed their focus on co-operation on HIV/Aids prevention, governance and public administration, and energy and climate issues -- in particular, South Africa's transition to a green economy.
"Further co-operation will take place... on the topic of introducing a national minimum wage, including an exchange of information and technical discussions," Breul said.
Sapa
