Bilateral meeting,
Presidential Guesthouse, Union Buildings
11 October 2007
Remarks by Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen of the media
We have just concluded the meeting between the two Presidents. The items on
our agenda fell into six categories but in addition to that we had, on the
first item of our agenda, a presentation on the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).
As you will recall, South Africa is one of the countries bidding to host the
SKA. South Africa remains, together with Australia, one of the remaining
countries in this bid. And it is something that will involve the co-operation
of a number of countries in the region for the location of the required
satellite dishes.
Namibia is one such country that would host some of these satellite dishes.
It was really just a presentation on the entirety and the possibilities that
will arise out of this type of co-operation engineering and science skills
development. We explored a number of possibilities arising from this. So that
is really the first thing that we did: for all of us to have a common
appreciation of how this SKA holds potential for both countries. Also I think
to show that we are emerging in the region in the field of astronomy. There is
already the telescope that is located in Namibia called Hess, we already have
the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) located in Sutherland and this is
something that will add to our involvement in the field of astronomy.
The other item on our agenda was trade and industry related issues;
transport and communication issues; energy issues; environment and tourism
issues and agricultural issues. In the area of transport: the objective we have
set ourselves is to have an overall memorandum of understanding (MoU) on
co-operation in transport because there is co-operation in the maritime sector
and this will be covered by this MoU. Our ports authorities will also have some
sort of MoU.
The area of transport is an area we have identified as critical to the work
we will do together. There are also various transport corridors between the two
of us. What the Minister did not say was that this investment conference
scheduled for 31 October to 1 November 2007 is the culmination of work we have
been doing to develop the Walvis Bay Spatial Corridor. So all of the work has
been done to identify the economic potential and package the various projects
and normally this is how we launch this Spatial Development Initiatives (SDIs),
viz by inviting business representatives to market those packaged projects to
attract their interest. So, the issue of co-operation in the transport area
fits into the various transport corridors we are busy developing.
In the energy sector we are also doing a number of things together: there is
work that has been underway to ensure that out of the gas reserves or deposits
in Namibia we are able to address our energy needs. There is the necessary
co-operation between the two Ministers but also between the two power utilities
Eskom and NAMPower. So it work that is ongoing.
We have received a progress report and it is clear that by the next meeting
they will be able to mark some progress in this area. So the Orange River,
which is the river between the two countries, presents opportunities for hydro
power generation and we have agreed in this meeting that work should proceed to
look at the possibility of creating a hydro electric power plant along the
Orange River.
There is the larger project called the Southern Africa Power Pool that
involves the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Angola, Namibia, South Africa
and Botswana. It is an initiative that was started under the auspices of
Southern African Development Community (SADC) because the projection then was
that come 2007 we were going to begin to experience power challenges. We
initiated this process to invest in new power generation.
This has got various aspects. In other words, there are various power
projects that are located in various countries. In so far as WesCor (Western
Power Corridor) which involves South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Botswana and the
DRC each of whom owns 20% of this project. Work that has been going on in that
area, the funding has been sourced to take this work forward. And all of us,
because we are grappling with the challenge of energy security and there is
stronger movement towards sources of cleaner energy.
Nuclear energy is an issue that has merged as something that is on the
agenda of the world at the moment, viz to look at nuclear energy as part of the
mix when considering sources of energy. So this is another area where we are
looking at co-operating more closely. On Friday, 12 October 2007, we will open
the Mata-Mata Tourist Access Facility and Border Post between South Africa and
Namibia. The two Presidents will attend this ceremony. Next week, there is
another border post that will be opened by the Ministers.
There are various matters in the area of cross border tourism that we are
investigating. Namibia has sand dunes; South Africa banned the driving of 4X4s
on our sand and so a lot of South Africans who enjoyed this pastime have
migrated to Namibia quad bikes and so on which are regulated in Namibia. They
way in which they went about this is without acceding to the necessary Namibian
legislation so that is an issue the two Ministers of Environment and Tourism
are addressing.
In terms of the 2010 Soccer World Cup: Namibia has established an
inter-ministerial committee to determine how they can best benefit from South
Africa's hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup. We have agreed on a mechanism
that will ensure we can have this co-ordination. We also received a report on
collaboration in the area of marine and coastal management of South Africa and
Namibia. It largely involves issues of capacity building, skills training,
co-operation with South Africa providing the necessary capacity building
support and both Angola and Namibia have expressed satisfaction in terms of how
they are benefiting from this co-operation.
Lastly, the area of agriculture: outbreaks of diseases impact on trade
relations. We have therefore agreed to ensure we have the necessary mechanisms
to enable co-ordination to deal with any such outbreak that necessarily has an
impact on trade, viz in some instances you need to halt your trade when there
has been an outbreak that affects a particular product. So, we agreed that we
need to expand our co-operation so that we can minimise the impact of this.
These are some of the areas we touched upon.
Trade and Industry Minister of Namibia
Thank you honourable Minister
Ladies and gentlemen of the media thank you for your eagerness to report on
this very important meeting between our two Heads of State. The Presidents
discussed, as the Minister has just reported, a number of issues and they have
reached a good understanding on a number of issues on economic co-operation
between our two countries, including the forthcoming Namibia Investors
Conference scheduled for 31 October to November 2007 in Windhoek, the transport
management issues, environment and tourism issues.
With regard to the forthcoming Investors Conference they received a report
on progress towards this. The meeting was briefed that arrangements are
progressing well in terms of arrangements towards this conference. Different
investors have been invited, arrangements have been put in place to provide
information to potential investors with information, teams from the Ministry of
Trade and Industry have gone out to inform and invite participants. We have
made presentations in China, Russia, the United States, Europe and in South
Africa itself we were able to make presentations in Durban, East London. We had
a chance to address the SADC Chamber of Commerce at Gallagher Estate where we
informed them about the Investors Conference.
The Investors Conference is aimed at marketing a number of projects to
potential investors in various sectors such as energy, manufacturing and many
other sectors. This conference is a very important platform for investors to
investigate our policies, the projects themselves, find out whether
partnerships can be established. So a full report was given to the two
Presidents and they expressed their satisfaction. It was agreed that both Heads
of State will co-chair the Investors Conference. This issue was discussed at
length.
We also looked at our co-operation in other fields including the
establishment of a Namibia Standards Institute. These services have thus far
been provided by the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) which has been
playing the role in certifying standards in our country. Of course, they are in
the process of phasing out and we are planning to phase in the Namibian
Authority and transferring skills and standards.
We also looked at the promotion of the reciprocal protection of investments.
Of course, as I say, we are going to host this Investors Conference with the
aim of investing investors, even from South Africa. Now for investors to come
into South Africa, they should be assured that whatever investments they make
in Namibia will be safe. Therefore we also looked into where we are in terms of
this agreement. This process has gone very far and we want to finalise this
matter when President Mbeki visits Namibia at the end of this month.
Other issues we looked at: the establishment of a Namibian Board of Trade.
South Africa is currently rendering these services to us. The Heads of State
were presented with a report. Once the board is in place, South Africa has
undertaken to help with capacity building with the induction of the board
members and other areas. It was quite a useful meeting. It was a business
meeting that reflected the co-operation that exists between our two countries
especially on the economic front and it was emphasised how we together as the
two countries can increase our co-operation to increase our economic
relations.
Questions and answers
Question: Ministers, could you give us more information on the SKA â which
countries will be involved, how many dishes will be hosted, etc?
Answer: (Minister Mpahlwa) The intent of the presentation we received was to
illustrate the full array of the project including the timeframes in which the
project will unfold and be constructed which would have a large number of
dishes spread around South Africa but also in neighbouring countries, Namibia
is one of these countries, Botswana in another. These will be part of a whole
array that will be immediately located within the SKA. If my understanding is
correct, when this is completed, you will have 4 500 dishes spread throughout
South Africa and neighbouring countries.
On the issue of lobbying: the point I was making between South Africa and
Australia was merely to state the reality that out of a race that involved
other players, the two remaining contenders are South Africa and Australia.
Again, this is an area in which I am not closely involved but by understanding
is that things can change depending on what participants will do to address
their advantages. I think that our people in Science and Technology can brief
you further on their lobbying efforts.
(Namibian Trade Minister) I am not sure that the situation between South
Africa and Australia was before this meeting. After this meeting, we support
South Africa fully. And we are willing to enter into a joint venture to allow
for the construction to be done in Namibia.
Question: Ministers, (inaudible)
Answer: (Minister Mpahlwa) I think that as the two governments, because
Namibia has over time indicated it requires, on the basis of its own energy
needs, is power generation from water sources. I think that on the basis of
today's discussion, the two governments have agreed that where potential has
been identified the work should proceed for development purposes.
(Namibian Minister of Trade and Industry) All I can say it to reiterate what
you have just said. As far as we are concerned a 30 megawatt (MW) power plant
would make a serious impact in providing energy to some parts of our country
especially the southern areas. So we think we should be using whatever
resources are available and accessible to generate this power. Both Presidents
at today's meeting gave us the green light to go ahead to do what needs to be
done to address this serious shortage.
Question: Minister, have we resolved the matter of the where on the Orange
River the border between South Africa and Namibia is located?
Answer: (Minister Mpahlwa) You are correct that this is an issue that has
been in existence. In a sense, I think this is an issue that has delayed
decision making processes around power generation projects. But the perspective
of the two Presidents was that because there is a standing issue of a border
dispute that will require certain processes including the involvement of
multilateral organisations and processes, such things should continue. But the
work for development should not be delayed for much longer. I think this was
the basis on which we agreed. The issue of the border can be resolved in time
but while developmental challenges exist, we should not say that work to
address this should be held back for much longer.
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
11 October 2007
