Africa-Asia partnership urged

South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has urged African and Asian nations to form a “strategic partnership” to reverse the marginalisation of their two continents in world affairs.

“This initiative can empower us to transform our reality,” Dlamini-Zuma told ministers attending an Asian-African Sub-Regional Organisations Conference in the south-eastern port city of Durban yesterday.

Dlamini-Zuma, who co-chaired the meeting with her Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda, said member countries would be looking at ways to facilitate trade between their two continents, improve product quality and competitiveness, and establish regulatory frameworks that are attractive to investors ahead of next year’s summit.