working visit to Norway
16 August 2007
Oslo: The South African Minister of Minerals and Energy, Ms Buyelwa Sonjica,
undertook a working visit to Norway from 12 to 16 August 2007. This trip was in
the context of the existing binational agreement between the two countries
particularly to look at those issues that speak to the portfolios for which
Minister Sonjica is responsible.
Minister Sonjica met with her counterparts from the Ministries of
International Development, Petroleum and Energy as well as Environment, namely
Ministers Erik Solheim, Odd Roar Enoksen and Helen Bjornoy. The meetings looked
at the work that already exists between the Department of Minerals and Energy
(DME) and respective Ministries with a view of ensuring continued co-operation
not just at Ministerial level but also between officials.
"There are always lessons to be learnt from others in life, even more so as
governments. My primary purpose of strengthening ties between my department and
those Norwegian government departments with an impact on minerals and energy
has been achieved. I had very fruitful discussions with my counterparts and
there are tangible exchanges of experience between us, which of course will
continue," said Minister Sonjica.
"The relationship between Norway and South Africa spans decades. Both
countries recognise the need to develop the relationship differently, moving
away from the initial donor-recipient type relationship to one of partnership.
A partnership implies an equal footing and therefore equal responsibility for
developments flowing from such a partnership," the Minister said.
Most of the discussions centred on energy and energy planning. Another
meeting with the First Deputy Chairman of the Standing Committee on Energy and
the Environment was mainly around the need for and constraints that impede
service delivery. It was necessary to point out the backlogs that still exist
even with the progress the country has made. It was also evident that other
countries like Norway have an interest in all issues pertaining to the country,
including the political and social evolution South Africa is going through.
One major difference between our countries is with regards to our main
sources of generation of energy, where South Africa is endowed with coal
deposits and therefore lends itself to the use of fossil for energy generation.
Norway generates almost ninety-nine percent of its electricity from its
abundant water supplies.
"Our countries continue to find new avenues of co-operation. Our state
âowned entities also have a role to play and I am pleased with the work that
Eskom and Central Energy Fund (CEF) are doing with their respective Norwegian
counterparts. We are also grateful for the input the Norwegians made as we
prepared our Energy Master Plan, which was recently adopted by Cabinet.
"In the month of September we will be holding our country's inaugural Energy
Summit. We do hope that Norway will support us in this venture as well by
participating and sharing experiences with us," Minister Sonjica said.
For enquiries contact:
Sputnik Ratau
Cell: 082 521 0614
Issued by: Department of Minerals and Energy
16 August 2007
