"We wish to expedite negotiations on a preferential trade agreement between India and the Southern African Customs Union, so that we may realise the great potential that exists by bringing these two markets closer to each other," Zuma said in New Delhi during his visit to India.
"As governments we are committed to removing the barriers to trade and investment."
Zuma travelled to India with a large contingent of South African business people in a bid to build stronger trade links.
"We have seen a dramatic increase in the participation of major Indian companies in South Africa, with investment stock from India amounting to around $6-billion," he said.
The economic ties were being bolstered by political and diplomatic connections between the two countries, he added, and pointed out that India and South Africa had a relationship dating back to colonial times.
The two countries had a common ideological vision that was assisting business, he said.
"It is a matter of significant advantage to our business communities that South Africa and India share a common global vision of peace, stability, social justice, and the economic upliftment of the poor and marginalised.
"Importantly, India and South Africa view each other as partners rather than competitors."
He said this partnership would result in countries from the developing South changing the existing world order.
"It will contribute to our shared vision of a new world order, in which the countries of the South are able to assume their rightful place among the family of nations," said Zuma.
Despite his comments on diplomatic and political partnerships, Zuma said the most important relationship would remain economic.
"For it is in the economic sphere that this relationship is going to be most keenly felt, and in which it is going to have the most lasting impact."
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