4.1 South African Embassy Mr M Stofile, Ambassador, led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: . The main role of the Embassy was to maintain / develop the partnership and agreements that existed between South Africa and Germany. Germany was the number one trade and political partner of South Africa within the European zone, and there were many areas of interest shared between the two countries. . The Embassy was also responsible for facilitating logistical arrangements of South African delegations that planned to meet with the German authorities for official purposes. . The Embassy also advised any South African delegation that visited Germany to submit their report of the study tour, including agreements reached to ensure that a follow up can be made. . The Mpumalanga delegation that visited Germany in the past had not made a follow-up with an agreement that was under service, which was a matter of concern for the Embassy, since Germany was aiming to help other countries with this agreement. . The Embassy warned the Committee about getting into agreements with German institutions without honouring or servicing those agreements. . The Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr B Nzimande visited Germany in March 2010. The Minister participated in the iMove roundtable where he highlighted the challenges of skills development faced by the country.