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Vol 5 (AAC) No 9

Published 1st July 2012


South Africa

South Africa looks east

Lethargy in US and European markets has pushed the ANC government to fast-track deeper ties with Asia, but not everyone is convinced that it will work

European officials expressed anger in early June about the governing African National Congress’s new strategy to sideline South Africa’s traditional trading allies and forge closer ties with India and China. ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe announced in late May that South Africa would not focus on trade with Europe but on stronger economic and diplomatic ties with the BRICS group – Brazil, Russia, India and China. The move is running into strong headwinds because of differences over and opposition to the policy inside and outside the ANC’s Tripartite Alliance (ANC, Congress of South African Trade Unions – Cosatu – and South African Communist Party).

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