USDA TO HOST FOURTH U.S.-SOUTH AFRICA BINATIONAL COMMISSION AGRICULTURE      
 COMMITTEE MEETING 
                                             Release No.0236.97
                                                               
                                   Jim Petterson (202) 720-4623
                                            jpetterson@USDA.GOV                                  
                               Linda Habenstreit (202) 720-9442
                                       HABENSTREIT@FAS.USDA.GOV


USDA TO HOST FOURTH U.S.-SOUTH AFRICA BINATIONAL COMMISSION AGRICULTURE     
  COMMITTEE MEETING 

  WASHINGTON, July 16, 1997--Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman will host
the fourth bilateral meeting of the U.S.-South Africa Binational
Commission's Agriculture Committee on July 29, 1997, from 9:30 a.m.-12:30
p.m. in Room 104A of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Jamie L. Whitten
Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC.  A 15-member
delegation from the South African Ministry of Agriculture and Land Affairs
and Department of Health led by Agriculture Minister Derek Andre Hanekom
will participate in the meeting.

  "The efforts of the Agriculture Committee have led to the opening of
market opportunities between our two countries in several relatively new
areas of trade," said Glickman.  "Although our committee was formed less than
two years ago, we have negotiated increased access for U.S. poultry and red
meat to South Africa and for South African fresh fruits and cut flowers to
the United States.  Taken together, trade in these products increased by 278
percent between January through April 1997 compared to the same period in
1996.  I look forward to meeting with Agricultural Minister Hanekom and
other members of the South African government to discuss this and other
recent accomplishments." 

  At the meeting, Agriculture Committee Co-Chairs Glickman and Hanekom will
hear from members of the four Agriculture Committee working groups on new
initiatives they are proposing and the status of current projects.  The
creation of a fifth working group on school feeding and nutrition programs
will also be discussed.  The current working groups--Agricultural Technology
Development, Market Access, Institutional and Human Resources Development,
and Sustainable Natural Resource Utilization--consist of U.S. and South
African officials from many areas of USDA, the Ministry of Agriculture and
Land Affairs, and other U.S. and South African government agencies concerned
with agricultural and rural development issues. 

  The Agriculture Committee was established in December 1995 under the
auspices of the U.S.-South Africa Binational Commission headed by U.S. Vice
President Albert Gore, Jr. and South Africa's Executive Deputy President
Thabo Mbeki.  

  The committee provides a framework for facilitating mutual discussion,
cooperation, and initiatives in the areas of agricultural trade, investment
and development; rural economic and community development; marketing,
regulation and safety of food products; food and nutrition; natural
resources; and agricultural economics, extension and research.

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  In addition to agriculture, the other committees of the Binational
Commission cover trade and investment, human resources development and
education, sustainable minerals and energy, science and technology, and
conservation, water and the environment.  The formation of a seventh
committee--the Defense and Security Committee--will be announced at the
U.S.-South Africa Binational Commission meeting to be held on July 30 at the
U.S. Department of State.

  For further information, contact Ms. Frankie King, USDA/Foreign
Agricultural Service, at (202) 690-0776.

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