Programme Director;
Your Excellency, the Minister of Culture in Palestine, Ms Siham Mohammad Abdel Salam Barghouty and your esteemed delegation;
Senior management from the Department of Arts and Culture;
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Your Excellency, the Minister of Culture in Palestine, let me express our deep appreciation as the government and the people of South Africa to you for taking time to visit to our country. We are indeed delighted that you came to our shores and we hope you have found your stay in our country fruitful.
Today we mark an important day in our on-going endeavours to strengthen the bonds of friendship and solidarity between the people of Palestine and South Africa. In particular on this day we are cementing people to people contact between our countries, by signing an agreement on cooperation in the fields of arts and culture.
As we know arts and culture are an expression of who we are as people. They are an expression of our aspirations, our dreams and our hopes as well as our shared destiny.
Arts and Culture are also platforms through which we can build greater appreciation of our uniqueness but most importantly our inter-connectedness, owing to our common heritage as part of humanity.
It is for the reason that we will continue to make the point that; arts, culture and heritage are important tools of bringing people together and ensuring that they work towards a shared future.
In particular the agreement we are signing today will strengthen cooperation between our two countries with a view to promote mutual understanding of our diverse cultures, create opportunities to access cultural markets in both our countries and facilitate training and development in areas of common interests.
Our cooperation will also cover areas such as languages development, heritage preservation, exchanges of literature as well as exhibitions to showcase of both our countries’ artistic talent.
Your Excellency, it is for this reason that we welcome with both hands the opportunity to visit Palestine later this year to be part of the South Africa Week celebrations. We will use the South Africa Week in Palestine to show case our abundant artistic talent to the people of Palestine.
Our ultimate objective of participating in the South Africa Week is to further strengthen people to people contact and to build new bridges of friendship and solidarity with the people of Palestine.
Your Excellency, your visit comes at a time when as a nation we are celebrating hundred years of the oldest liberation movement in our Continent; the African National Congress (ANC). The centenary celebrations of the ANC are part of the intangible heritage of the people of South Africa.
It is for this reason that we say these celebrations belong to all South Africans. Equally the centenary celebrations of the ANC mark a hundred years of selfless struggle for national liberation.
This struggle brought together generations of men and women from our country, from the African Continent, from the Diaspora and indeed from the rest of the world.
The only inspiration for these patriots to participate and support our struggle for national liberation was their desire for freedom, justice and equality for all. Theirs was a humanitarian struggle aimed at ensuring the triumph of progress over stagnation in South Africa and in the world.
Your Excellency, we count the people of Palestine among those patriots who stood by us in our struggle for national liberation.
For that we are indebted to you.
In this regard we recall the words of the founding father of our democratic nation; a symbol of hope to all those fighting for a caring, humane and just world order former President Nelson Mandela who said in 1997 on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People;
“Having achieved our freedom, we can fall into the trap of washing our hands of difficulties that others face. Yet we would be less than human if we do so.”
It is for this reason that in line with the Non Aligned Movement and the international community in general, we will continue to support efforts towards a peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
In our view the best option for the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict is premised on a two-state solution with Palestine and Israel existing peacefully side-by-side as two independent states.
Your Excellency, your visit comes at a time when as the Department of Arts and Culture we are implementing the Mzansi Golden Economy Strategy.
Through this Strategy we seek to build a more cohesive South African society while at the same time facilitating the economic emancipation of our people, through arts, culture and heritage.
I trust that we will find specific areas of cooperation between South Africa and Palestine in the implementation of the Mzansi Golden Economy Strategy.
Let the signing of this agreement be a practical expression of our commitment to use arts, culture and heritage to promote a better, humane and more caring world.
Let the relations between our two countries grow from strength to strength.
Thank you!
