Your Excellencies,
Ambassadors,
High Commissioners and members of the Diplomatic Corps
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is a great honour and pleasure for me, on behalf of the Government and people of the Republic of South Africa, to extend to you, Your Excellency, our warmest congratulations and sincere good wishes on this occasion to celebrate the Great Union of 1st December 1918, the National Day of Romania. The celebration of a country’s national day is always an important occasion, because it provides us with an opportunity to reflect back on one’s history, current dynamics and the country’ vision for the future. For us, as the Republic of South Africa, it is an occasion to reflect on our friendship and the ties that bind our nations and peoples together, the better to be able to discern the new efforts we must make to strengthen that friendship and those ties.
On such an occasion as this one, the government of the Republic of South Africa would like to re-affirm our good and enduring relations of friendship and solidarity with Romania that date back to the years of our struggle for liberation. The relations between our nations and peoples have been principled, premised as they have been on enhancing the course of humanity and human progress. We are pleased to acknowledge and renew our joint commitment to building strong bilateral and multilateral relations based on the shared values of mutual benefit, multilateralism, democracy, respect for human rights, the rule of law and sustainable development.
The recent senior officials’ consultations held in Bucharest in October 2012 provided an important opportunity for us to commence preparations for the envisaged visit of Deputy Minister Fransman for Political Consultations in 2013. The Deputy Minister’s visit will provide an important platform for us to review the status of bilateral relations and develop concrete programmes for mutually beneficial cooperation that will support our two countries’ national development priorities. Your Excellency; notwithstanding the current economic and financial challenges that the Eurozone and EU economies are grappling with, the EU remains South Africa’s major strategic partner in terms of trade, investment, technical cooperation and development cooperation.
As a member of the EU, Romania is also party to the South Africa-EU Trade and Development Cooperation Agreement and the SA-EU and Africa-EU strategic partnerships. In this regard, the theme of the fifth SA-EU Summit, that is, ‘EU-South Africa: a partnership for our people, prosperity and peace’, captured the essence of SA-EU and Africa-EU partnership which puts shared values, the African Agenda and sustainable development at the centre of our strategic and developmental partnership.
Your Excellency, I am pleased to note our growing cooperation and convergence of views on multilateral issues. I am certain that we will continue to work together to promote our common interests on multilateral issues especially, global governance reforms, human rights, multilateralism and the rule of law in international relations. I am convinced that possibilities for further cooperation between South Africa and Romania are unlimited and the forthcoming Deputy Ministerial Political consultations will define the form and content our relations going forward. Dear Ambassador, Ladies and Gentleman, Please raise your glasses and join me in a toast to the President, Government and the people of Romania, and to the good relationship between our two countries.
I thank you
.
