South Africa’s Foreign Policy Priorities for the 21st Century: A Closer Look at the Potential for Co-operation in the South Atlantic Zone

This research paper examines the strategic importance of the South Atlantic Zone for South Africa's foreign policy, arguing that treating the region as a single entity can bridge the divide between African and Latin American engagements. It highlights opportunities for cooperation in maritime security, the 'blue economy' through Operation Phakisa, and South-South economic and cultural collaboration, while noting that current trade levels remain low despite significant potential.

• South Africa views the South Atlantic Zone as a framework to bridge the conceptual and geographic divide between its 'Latin American' and 'African' regional foreign policies, enabling deeper multilateral cooperation.
• The South Atlantic Zone shares developmental similarities, including resource-based economies, single commodity exports, and patterns of poverty, which create opportunities for cooperation in mining, agro-processing, infrastructure, and science and technology.
• The Zone of Peace and Cooperation of the South Atlantic (ZPCSA), established in 1986 and comprising 24 countries, focuses on security and the preservation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone across Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Antarctica.
• South Africa's maritime security strategy in the South Atlantic is driven by the need to combat piracy, particularly in the Gulf of Guinea, and the challenge of patrolling its 1,530,000 square kilometre Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) with limited naval capacity.
• Operation Phakisa, launched on 15 July 2014, is a key instrument for South Africa to expand into the 'blue economy' (including offshore oil and gas, aquaculture, and marine transport) to drive economic development; the National Development Plan suggests this could help achieve 5% GDP growth by 2019.
• Despite the 2004 SACU/MERCOSUR Preferential Trade Agreement, trade between South Africa and the South Atlantic countries of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay was relatively low at USD 3.34 billion in 2013, partly due to the production of similar commodities.
• South Africa engages in joint maritime exercises to strengthen regional security, including Ibsamar (with India and Brazil since 2008) and Atlasur (with Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay since 1993).

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2015). South Africa’s Foreign Policy Priorities for the 21st Century: A Closer Look at the Potential for Co-operation in the South Atlantic Zone. https://saiia.org.za/research/south-africas-foreign-policy-priorities-for-the-21st-century-a-closer-look-at-the-potential-for-co-operation-in-the-south-atlantic-zone-2/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. South Africa’s Foreign Policy Priorities for the 21st Century: A Closer Look at the Potential for Co-operation in the South Atlantic Zone. 2015. https://saiia.org.za/research/south-africas-foreign-policy-priorities-for-the-21st-century-a-closer-look-at-the-potential-for-co-operation-in-the-south-atlantic-zone-2/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=South Africa’s Foreign Policy Priorities for the 21st Century: A Closer Look at the Potential for Co-operation in the South Atlantic Zone |date=19 May 2015 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/south-africas-foreign-policy-priorities-for-the-21st-century-a-closer-look-at-the-potential-for-co-operation-in-the-south-atlantic-zone-2/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2015south, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{South Africa’s Foreign Policy Priorities for the 21st Century: A Closer Look at the Potential for Co-operation in the South Atlantic Zone}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2015}, month = may, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/south-africas-foreign-policy-priorities-for-the-21st-century-a-closer-look-at-the-potential-for-co-operation-in-the-south-atlantic-zone-2/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }