Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South African President Thabo Mbeki will agree at a meeting in Tokyo this week to start negotiations on a science and technology cooperation pact, government sources said Saturday.
The two leaders will also agree to work together for a world free of terrorism and to step up cooperation between Japan and South Africa for the development of the entire African continent, the sources said.
Japan is the world's second largest economy, after the United States, while South Africa is by far the biggest regional economic power in sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for more than 40 percent of the region's gross domestic product.