Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, Pamela Tshwete, is leading a South African delegation of technical officials and engineers to the Water Resources Infrastructure Conference in Zimbabwe.

Deputy Minister Tshwete and the delegation will attend and participate in the conference from 24 – 26 June 2015, at the invitation of Zimbabwean Minister responsible for Environment, Water and Climate, Saviour Kasukuwere.

The invitation follows the recent signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between South Africa and Zimbabwe during President Robert Mugabe’s visit to South Africa which formalised bilateral cooperation on water resources.

The Deputy Minister is expected to address the conference, where she will highlight the importance of this cooperation, explore the socio-economic benefits of the partnership while also building on the already existing relations between South Africa and Zimbabwe as well as other riparian states in the Southern African region.

The engineers and technical teams will participate in the conference to deepen their understanding of the available opportunities for cooperation and workable available mechanisms to provide water in the two countries.

Recently, Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane and Minister Kasukuwere worked together on different platforms to explore measures of cooperation between the two countries in the provision of water for the benefit of their respective citizens.

They both attended a Conference on Gender, Water and Development held in East London in November last year. They also attended the World Water Forum 7, held in Gyeongju, South Korea in April 2015.

The department said it was in these sessions that a good understanding of the water situation and challenges in the two countries was appreciated.