Malaysia ventures S. Africa

Mon, 27 Jul 1998 | Source: DJ

JOHANNESBURG (AP): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and South African Deputy President Thabo Mbeki Saturday launched a bank project that will fund black-owned businesses and facilitate trade between South Africa and Southeast Asia.

The Southern Bank of Africa, capitalized at US$16.1 million, is a joint project of the Malaysian Killinghall Berhard and a local black empowerment group, the National Empowerment Trust Investment Fund.

NETIF chairman Don Mkhwanazi said the bank represented a "marriage between the Asian Tiger and the African Lion" despite current economic difficulties.

Mohamad ended his two-day visit on Saturday.

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