South Africa 

On January 26th 2017 South Africa and Belgium have signed a five-year cooperation agreement that will see the two countries implement joint research and technology initiatives. 

The agreement will be implemented by the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) and by South Africa’s Department of Science and Technology (DST). 

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) is set to promote the exchange of scientific information and expertise between the two countries and facilitate the hosting of joint seminars, workhsops  and training on themes of mutual interest such as climate change, marine and Antarctic science, biodiversity,  earth sciences  and space science.

A first meeting of the joint committee for R&D cooperation is organised in Pretoria on May 9th 2017. As a result of the meeting a first call for Networking projects is jointly launched by BELSPO and NRF (National Research Foundation) on June 6th 2017.
As the results of the parallel evaluations - from BELSPO and from NRF side - were diverging it has been decided to not fund andy proposal submitted in the framework of the call.

Given the common interest by Belgian and South-African research teams for research and technology cooperation in space, BELSPO has organised the participation of two Belgian expert teams at the exhibition and sessions of the Science Forum in Pretoria in November 2017.

On March 14th 2018 BELSPO launched together with DST (Dpt for Science and Technonolgy, South AFrica) a new call for proposals for networking activities. This call was limited to topping up of research projects already funded by BELSPO (via the programmes BRAIN-be , STEREO III ,  ESA-PRODEX  (via ESA cooperation), EVAMAB (via UNESCO cooperation or of activities of the Federal Scientific Institutions (FSI).
Seven networking projects are funded by BELSPO and DST.

In 2020, BELSPO has launched together with DST (Dpt for Science and Technonolgy, South Africa) and with MOST (Ministry for Science and Technology, China) a trilateral call to support research projects. The call ‘BIOCLIMHEALTH’, launched on November 27th 2020 and closed on March 17th 2021, was focussed on ‘The interplay between biodiversity, climate change and health’.
As a result of the Peer Review process 2 research projects are funded by BELSPO, by NRF and by MOST: CLIMAVIN and EMPOCHA .

A second meeting of the the joint committee for R&D cooperation was organised online on May 18th 2021. In the ‘way forward ‘session, attention was payd to further implementation of the bilateral scheme and in particular efficient use of various complementary schemes. Mechanisms will be looked at to team up optimally researchers from both sides in the various European or broader multi-lateral STI cooperation frameworks.