occasion of the National Day of the State of Qatar, Sheraton Hotel,
Pretoria
18 December 2007
Your Excellency, Dr Basheer Al-Shirawi, Ambassador of the State of Qatar in
Pretoria
Ambassadors and High Commissioners
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Honoured guests
Ladies and gentlemen
I feel honoured to represent the government and the people of South Africa
on this important occasion as we join you to celebrate the National Day of the
State of Qatar. It is the first time that we celebrate Qatar's National Day on
this date, marking the day when His Highness Shaikh Jassim bin Mohammad bin
Thani, the founder of the modern state of Qatar, acceded to power in 1878.
Allow me, therefore, to convey to you our congratulations and the sincere wish
that the celebration of your nation's National Day will be another milestone in
the development and modernisation of your country.
I would also like to use this opportunity to congratulate Dr Al-Shirawi on
his appointment as Qatar's new ambassador to South Africa and the presentation
of his credentials to President Thabo Mbeki on 6 December 2007. Ambassador, we
welcome you in our country and look forward to co-operating with you in order
to ensure that relations between our two countries are elevated to a higher
level during your term of duty.
The celebration of a country's national day is always an important occasion,
because it provides an opportunity to take stock of a nation's achievements to
date, but also to look towards the future. In this regard, we need to extend to
you our congratulations, because Qatar has been an example to many countries,
including our own, in terms of the political, economic and social advances it
has made under the wise leadership of His Highness Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa
Al-Thani.
African history is intertwined with the history of the Arabian Gulf, of
which modern day Qatar is an integral part. Three hundred years ago, Africans
came as pearl divers and workers who staffed the boats that brought merchandise
across the borders of the Arabian Gulf to and from East Africa, Ethiopia, India
and other parts of that region. Those who settled in the gulf brought their
languages, culture and music, such as pearl diving songs, into the region which
created colourful societies.
Contact with South Africa has been more limited and more recent due to our
geographic position and subsequently also the apartheid policies of the
previous government. However, we are proud of what we have achieved since
diplomatic relations were first established in 1994. Qatar was one of the first
Arab countries to establish diplomatic relations with a democratic South Africa
and today it is an important partner for us.
Political relations have been consolidated through high-level visits,
including that by the Amir of Qatar to South Africa in 2002 and Presidents
Mandela and Mbeki to Qatar. Several ministerial visits have also been
exchanged. We have also found that South Africa and Qatar hold common positions
on many international and regional issues and co-operate well within
multilateral foray, particularly in the United Nations Security Council where
both of us have been members over the past year.
Qatar is also becoming an increasingly important market for our exports and
we are hoping to increase the level of investment from Qatar in South Africa.
We are pleased also that many of our companies had been able to participate in
major infrastructure and other projects in Qatar. These projects, such as the
Shaikh Khalifa stadium in Doha, which was constructed by one of our companies
using South African steel and Sasol's joint venture gas-to-liquid project with
Qatar Petroleum, are good advertisements for our expertise and capabilities.
Furthermore, we are seeing an increase in the number of Qatar nationals who
choose South Africa as a holiday destination and we believe this figure will
increase further as Qatar Airways augment its flights to our country to seven
per week.
Excellencies
In conclusion, I wish to take this opportunity, on behalf of the government
and people of South Africa, to convey best wishes to the government and the
people of the state of Qatar on this historic occasion.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Public Works
18 December 2007
