Since 1994 bilateral relations between South Africa and Austria have been actively conducted on all three spheres of South African government. Despite to the strong hegemonies of the Austrian Government at national level in support of development programmes and increased economic involvement, there is an existence of provincial and local government partnerships with key Austrian provinces and local government, notable, City Council of Vienna which has subsequently culminated to Gauteng receiving a consistent material support for educational programmes. Furthermore, South Africa and Austria are not major trading partners; however, South Africa ranks sixth among Austria's overseas trading partners, and is by far Austria's major trading partner in Africa. The balance of trade between the two countries has remained in South Africa's favour (by Euro 61 million) over the last two years, which has gone against SA-EU trading trends.