The Taoiseach will host a meeting of up to 120 Irish and South African business people in Johannesburg this morning in a concerted effort to help Irish business break into southern African markets.
Last night in Pretoria, he met representatives of 20 Irish companies to prepare for this morning's breakfast meeting with over 25 South African businesses. Mr Ahern is expected to make a major speech on the Irish economy, outline the benefits of trade between the countries and witness the signing of a number of contracts between Irish and South African companies.
Yesterday the Taoiseach had a short meeting with President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, during which they discussed the peace process in Northern Ireland, the Ireland Aid programme and trade.
Mr Ahern said he had pledged to support South Africa in its attempts to have implemented a £4.8 billion aid and trade deal with the EU, agreed in October. The dispute over the deal will be raised in Brussels today at a meeting of EU ambassadors.
The deal has been blocked by some EU member-states which object to the names used by South African producers for some of their wines and alcoholic products. These states regard "grappa", "champagne", "port" and other such names as ones which other countries, such as South Africa, are not entitled to use and have held up the implementation of the deal on this basis.
Mr Ahern said yesterday that Ireland would work to have the issue resolved if it is not agreed today. Mr Mbeki told a press conference he held with Mr Ahern yesterday that he was pleased with the support of the Irish Government.
Mr Mbeki paid tribute to the progress made in the peace process. "As a government we have been very interested in that and are continuing to support it", he said.
Mr Ahern told reporters later he had thanked Mr Mbeki for the significant South African involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process. He said visits by South African politicians to Northern Ireland before and since the signing of the Belfast Agreement had helped persuade a number of people of the value of working for political agreement.
In particular, he said, the 1996 visit to Northern Ireland by Mr Cyril Ramaphosa and Mr Roelf Meyer, who respectively led the African National Congress and National Party delegations to the peace talks in South Africa in the early 1990s, had made an impression on people. Northern Ireland politicians had also had roundtable discussions with each other in South Africa, he said, and he was anxious for these contacts to continue.
He said he had emphasised to Mr Mbeki that Ireland did not use the support Ireland Aid gave to South Africa's anti-poverty policies as a means of promoting trade. But nevertheless "trade is our business".
Trade between the two states had multiplied sevenfold since 1990, and there was great potential for further growth, he said. Political relations and Irish assistance to South Africa were important. "There is a lot for us to be gained through assisting them in every way possible," he said.
Today Mr Ahern will also attend the opening of a citizens' advice desk at Johannesburg Magistrates' Court supported by Irish Aid. Tonight he will make a major speech on Northern Ireland to the South African Institute for International Affairs. He will then fly to Cape Town for a further two days of engagements before leaving for Dublin on Friday night.