South Africa is courting Ghana to become a client at its Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone, described as a world-class facility that can be used to service Ghana’s oil and gas rigs and other needs for oil exploration and production, according to a report in SpyGhana.com.

Trade between South Africa and Ghana almost doubled from $32 million in 2008 to $60.9 million in 2012, said Elizabeth Thabethe, South Africa Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, on a recent visit to Ghana.

Thabethe led a 29-member business delegation on a four-day trip to seek investment opportunities in Ghana.

South Africa is Ghana’s ninth-largest trading partner in Africa and its 34th-largest in the world. In August 2011, the two countries agreed to step up bilateral trade, industrial development, technical capacity-building and infrastructure development, SpyGhana.com reports.

In the last decade, South African companies registered 24 foreign direct investment projects in Ghana for a total capital investment of $644 million averaging $260,000 per project.