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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President


For Immediate Release February 22, 1995
                GORE, MBEKI TO LAUNCH U.S.-SOUTH AFRICAN
                         BINATIONAL COMMISSION
   
        Vice President Al Gore and South African Deputy President Thabo

Mbeki will launch the U.S.-South African Binational Commission on March 1 during the Deputy President's February 28 - March 3, 1995, visit to Washington, D.C.

President Clinton and Vice President Gore said Deputy President Mbeki's visit will help strengthen the U.S. partnership with the democratic South Africa. The U.S.- South African Binational Commission represents an important advance in relations between the two countries and will facilitate bilateral cooperation on key issues including business development, conservation and the environment, energy development, human resources and education, and science and technology.

This visit will be the third meeting between Vice President Gore and Deputy President Mbeki as well as the Deputy President's second visit to the United States since taking office in May 1994. They met previously at South African President Nelson Mandela's May 10, 1994 inauguration in Pretoria and again when the Deputy President visited Atlanta in June 1994.

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