The South African Deputy President, Thabo Mbeki, has met King Fahd in the Saudi capital Riyadh at the start of a four-day visit which is expected to focus on boosting the oil trade between the two countries.

Mr Mbeki's visit to Riyadh comes a year after President Nelson Mandela signed a letter of intent to develop cooperation between the two countries' oil sectors.

Saudi Arabia produces nearly nine million barrels of oil a day; South Africa has little in the way of natural reserves -- it produces two hundred and twenty-five thousand barrels a day, most of itsynthetic oil -- and needs to import three hundred thousand barrels a day