JOHANNESBURG - South African President Jacob Zuma is to lead a delegation to attend the South Africa (SA)-European Union (EU) summit scheduled to take place in Brussels, the South African government announced on Monday.

The summit, starting on Tuesday, is expected to strengthen ties between SA and the EU.

"The EU is very important to South Africa. It remains South Africa's largest trading partner, investor and largest donor of development assistance," the government said in a statement.

"In 2001 the EU accounted for 26 percent of the value of SA trade flows. In 2011 South Africa exported to the EU goods worth over $18 billion and imported $27 billion, giving the EU a trade surplus with South Africa of $9 billion," the government statement said.

"Furthermore, the EU remains one of South Africa's largest source of tourists. Over 1.2 million tourists came from 17 EU countries in 2011," said the government.

The presence of up to six ministers attending the summit is an indication of the importance of the summit to the South African government.

The ministers are from a variety of economic sectors, including trade and industry, energy, finance and defense as well as international relations.

The statement said: "Issues to be discussed at this year's summit will include progress on the implementation of the SA-EU strategic partnership, the ongoing negotiations on Southern African Development Community (SADC)-EU economic partnership agreements, assessment of the Rio+20 summit held in Brazil in June, peace and security in Africa and the Middle East."

President Zuma will get an opportunity to deliver a keynote address at the SA-EU science and technology cooperation seminar to celebrate 15 years of science and technology cooperation between South Africa and the EU.