The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) will host the fourth session of the South Africa-Belarus Inter-Governmental Committee on Trade and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) and the South Africa-Belarus Business Forum this week. The ITEC will take place at the Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria on Thursday, 22 March 2018 and the business forum at the dti Campus also in Pretoria on Friday, 23 March 2018.   The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Bulelani Magwanishe and the Deputy Minister of International Relations in Belarus, Mr Andriel Dapakiunas will address the ITEC Session.   The ITEC was established through the bilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement that was signed between South Africa and Belarus in 2000. The purpose of the ITEC is to oversee the implementation of the bilateral agreement. Issues that will be discussed at the ITEC session include bilateral trade, mutual promotion of investment and business-to-business cooperation.   According to Deputy Minister Magwanishe, the objective of the two interactions is to increase trade and investment between the two countries. In this regard, different areas of sectoral cooperation will be discussed at the ITEC.   “The ITEC session will thus provide government officials with an opportunity to assess the implementation of the trade agreement that the two countries have signed with the aim of proposing measures that both governments can implement jointly in order to increase the two-way trade and investment,” says Magwanishe.   He adds that the business forum will serve as a platform where businesspeople exchange ideas on how to implement some of the outcomes of the sectoral discussions in order to enhance the level of trade and investment between the two countries.   “As government, we would like to see our companies doing business and investing in both countries as this will contribute to our national development objectives of growing the economy and creating jobs,” stresses Magwanishe.   Enquiries: Sidwell Medupe-Departmental Spokesperson Tel: (012) 394 1650 Mobile: 079 492 1774 E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za Issued by: The Department of Trade and Industry Follow us on Twitter: @the_dti