South Africa and Slovenia last week cemented political and economic ties likely to bring out collaboration in artificial intelligence, science and business as Tanja Fajon, the deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, made an official working visit to hold talks with political leadership in South Africa.

In an interview with Business Report, Fajon said the first green-shoots of the co-operation would be in a development project funded by Slovenia in South Africa, in which the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Ljubljana would be participating.

Together with locals, the architecture students will construct a school using eco-friendly materials.

“We are a small, but a very environmentally friendly country. There is a lot that we can work with South Africa in addressing envIronmental issues to protect the forests and water resources,” Fajon said.

Fajon, who met with South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said areas of particular importance discussed with the South African government centred around improvements in artificial intelligence for which an online conference was slated soon, bio-technology, climate change, medicine, agri-tourism and water diplomacy amongst other issues.

“We aim to intensify co-operation particularly in training of the youth. We already have a small but thriving community of South African students in Slovenia,” she pointed out, saying there was already a co-operation agreement hammered out between the two countries, which would be ratified soon.

Fajon delivered a lecture at the University of Pretoria focusing on Slovenia's foreign policy, including the concept of Feminist Foreign Policy.

Topics of discussion with Pandor included bilateral political and economic relations, regional and multilateral cooperation, with a focus on the non-permanent membership of Slovenia in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), which Slovenia looks forward to having a permanent seat in the 2024-2025 year.

The EU-Africa partnership, Russian aggression in Ukraine, the situation in Western Balkans and the issue of the visa regime between the two countries was also talked about.

“As a country with an observer status at the UN Security Council as of 1 October 2023, we are talking with South Africa about common global challenges. I believe both our nations have much to offer to each other. We have explored possibilities for further cooperation in business, science and other fields,” Fajon said.

BUSINESS REPORT