Africa

Africa

South Africa regrets UK's announcement on development aid

01 May 2013 00:12 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The South African government on Tuesday voiced regret over the Britain's intention to terminate official development aid from the year 2015, APA reports.

The South African government has noted "with regret" the "unilateral announcement" by the government of the United Kingdom, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRC) said in a statement.

"This is such a major decision with far reaching implications on the projects that are currently running and it is tantamount to redefining our relationship," DIRC spokesman Clayson Monyela said in the statement.

Ordinarily the British government should have informed the government of South Africa through official diplomatic channels of their intentions and allowed for proper consultations to take place, and the modalities of the announcement agreed on, the spokesman said.

Monyela said a SA/UK bilateral forum was scheduled for later this year and that he was looking forward to the meeting to "clear up this matter".

"This unilateral announcement no doubt will affect how our bilateral relations going forward will be conducted," said Monyela.