Notable achievements for the 2011/12 financial year includes leveraging R285 million in foreign STI funds; spending R63.8 million on S&T based socio-economic development in Africa; 3 460 South African STI role players had access to foreign participants in global knowledge and STI networks; and 1 270 South African students participated in international co-operative STI research projects under development partnership programmes. Furthermore, the Department secured R120 million from the African Renaissance Fund for the Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network (VLBIN). The number of strategic African partner countries with which S&T agreements have been signed reached 18 when an agreement was signed with Tanzania in April 2011.