International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Dr Naledi Pandor, has issued an apology to the arts community.

This comes after an interview she had in September last year with the Council on Foreign Relations, based in the United States, resurfaced on social media.

In a short clip, the Minister stressed the need to increase the number of young people to be trained in "critical skills" in Africa.

"I don't think we want more arts trainers; I'm sorry for the arts people," she said in the interview.

"But I think, science is very important, technology and engineering because those are the skills that we desperately need as well in the finance and economic sectors. We need highly trained people and then information and communication technology," she said at the time.

Her department said it has also noted the issue by the Cultural and Creative Industries Federation of South Africa, calling on her to apologise for appearing to undermine the arts.

"Minister Pandor apologises for any offence caused by her comments to the members of the arts community," the department said in a statement.