Johannesburg - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was set to hold talks Thursday with South African President Jacob Zuma, on the first day of the African leader's first state visit to Moscow.

Zuma arrived in Russia earlier at the head of a large political and business delegation, including 11 government ministers, South Africa's department of international relations said in a statement.

While Medvedev's meeting with Zuma had initially been billed to take place in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, the two leaders would now be meeting in Moscow, international relations spokesman Saul Kgomotso Molobi told the German Press Agency dpa.

The head of the world's biggest gas producer and the leader of Africa's largest economy were set to discuss trade and investment in minerals, energy, science and technology, defence and aerospace, the international relations department in Pretoria said.

South Africa is the world's biggest producer of the precious metal platinum.

South Africa produces small amounts of uranium, mainly as a by-product of gold mining, and is considering building a second nuclear power plant.

Over the course of Zuma's visit, his first to Russia since becoming president in 2009, the South African Space Agency and the Russian Federal Space Agency are to sign an accord on cooperation in the area of earth observation, South Africa said.

Last year, Russia launched South Africa's first satellite aboard a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Zuma's visit is part of a diplomatic and trade blitz of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) bloc of four biggest emerging markets. Earlier this year, Zuma visited Brazil and India. Later this month, he will also visit China.

Trade between Russia and South Africa is low, amounting to a little over 690 million dollars.

By contrast, South Africa's trade with China is worth about 16 billion dollars.

By Staff reporter and agencies