South Africa, Mauritania Strengthen Economic Relations
South Africa agreed to strengthen economic relations with Mauritania, a country considered rich in resources but with one of the poorest populations and highest proportions of slavery in the world.
The Islamic Republic of Mauritania bridges the Arab Maghreb and Western sub-Saharan Africa regions.
Meeting in Pretoria Friday, South African Trade Minister Rob Davies and Mauritanian Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Naha Mint Hamdi Ould Mouknass, agreed to economic cooperation, according to a government press release at SANews,gov.
“We will establish a joint trade and investment committee,” Davis said. “We don’t have any significant investment relations … at this point in time. There are opportunities in the mining sector in Mauritania. They also have agricultural (and) fishing potential.”
South African businesses have been invited to explore opportunities in Mauritania in tourism, energy and transportation, among others, according to an SABC video.
LonelyPlanet described Mauritania as “a drive-through country – less a destination in itself than somewhere to transit between the better-known attractions of Marrakesh, Dakar or Bamako. That’s a shame because Mauritania has some tremendous secrets to reveal to those prepared to stop and take a closer look.”
The same Lonely Planet website has a travel advisory posted by the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office recommending against all travel to some parts of Mauritania and all non-essential travel to the rest of the country.
The population of Mauritania is split about evenly between black Africans living in the south and Moors of Arab-Berber descent in the north. A large portion of the population is nomadic.
One of Africa’s newest oil producers, Mauritania has been criticized for years over what human rights organisations say is persistent slavery, BBC reports. The government denies this.
In December, a Mauritanian court condemned a journalist to death in accordance with Islamic sharia law for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir, 28, was arrested for writing a news article about the Prophet Mohammad and the caste system, a sensitive subject in a country with deep social and racial divisions, DailyMail reported Dec. 27.
Other human rights issues cited against Mauritania include female genital mutilation and child labor.
In 2015, Walk Free ranked Mauritania No. 1 on its Global Slavery Index, saying slaves constitute a higher proportion of the population than elsewhere, BBC reports. It said more than 150,000 people or 4 percent of the population are enslaved in Mauritania, compared to India’s 14 million, which represents 1 percent of the population.
A 2014 U.N. report on slavery said Mauritania had made some progress fighting slavery but said authorities must “take more vigorous measures to eliminate slavery and to fully implement the laws and policies,” according to BBC.
Mauritania is rich in mineral resources but is one of the world’s poorest countries, according to the World Bank. It is No. 2 in Africa for iron ore exports, a modest oil producer, and has considerable natural gas deposits. Its waters are not yet over fished, and have some of the most abundant fish stocks in the world, BBC reports.
Mauritanian President Abdel Aziz served as president of the African Union from 2014 to 2015.
“We have been cooperating — particularly when the President of Mauritania was the chair of the African Union — on a lot of A.U. business and we have cordial relations but in the area of the economy, our relations are not particularly strong,” Davies said in a prepared statement.
South Africa’s trade relationship with Mauritania is worth is about 400 million rand ($33.5 million USD) “and is characterised by a big imbalance in favor of South Africa,” Davies said. “We do supply quite a number of value added products to Mauritania such as fruit and other products (that) go via Europe…”
Mauritania is seen by the West as an ally against Islamist militants in the Sahel, BBC reports.