the Singapore delegation to KwaZulu-Natal, Elangeni Hotel
24 April 2007
Your Excellency, The Honourable President of Singapore, Mr S R Nathan
Madam Urmila Nandey, First Lady of Singapore
Deputy High Commissioner of Singapore Mr Ram Chadara
Members of the Executive Council
Deputy Mayor of the Ethekwini Municipality Mr Logie Naidoo
Members of the provincial and local government
Distinguished guests
This morning we visited one of KwaZulu-Natal's most historic heritage sites
the Phoenix Settlement, which was the home of Mahatma Gandhi. Tomorrow we will
be visiting the Luthuli Museum, where we will pay tribute to one of
KwaZulu-Natal and Africa's greatest freedom fighters. It is clear Mr President
that in the two international figures that I have mentioned, we are painting a
picture of this beautiful province which tells us all that we are a diverse
people.
Relations between our two countries have been strengthening since South
Africa was readmitted to the international family after 1994. Most recent of
these ways of strengthening ties between our two countries has involved the
upgrading of your diplomatic representation to that of High Commission in
2005.
President Thabo Mbeki undertook a State Visit to Singapore in April 2005.
The key outcome of that visit was an agreement between our two countries to
commence talks on a Free Trade Agreement between the Southern African Customs
Union (SACU) and Singapore.
President Mbeki and Prime Minister Lee also witnessed the signing of the
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Republic of South Africa and the
Republic of Singapore which dealt with Bilateral Co-operation.
The MOU sets out specific areas in which Singapore and South Africa can
co-operate. This includes trade and investment, tourism, maritime affairs,
academic co-operation, human resources development, crime and terrorism. Both
Singapore and South Africa have committed to working for a more liberal air
services agreement with a view to eventually concluding an Open Skies
Agreement. We have no doubt that when these skies are open, KwaZulu-Natal will
be one of the first destinations to which your airlines will fly.
One of South Africa's core objectives, as set out in the Accelerated and
Shared Growth Initiative (AsgiSA), is to halve poverty and unemployment by
2014. We are also working hard to create conditions for a sustainable growth
rate of six percent. We have no doubt that this meeting today is an important
step for our country and province to get closer, quicker to that growth
rate.
Singapore is the world's fourth largest foreign exchange trading centre
after London, New York City and Tokyo. We also note that according to reports
we have received, if your economy continues to grow as well as it is currently
doing, you may overtake Japan as the third largest foreign exchange centre by
2008. We are also aware of the fact that Singapore has been rated as one of the
most business friendly economies in the world.
It is said that Singapore was able to recover from the recession because you
took advantage of improvements in the world economy. The Singaporean economy
itself has grown by 8,3% and 6,4% in 2004 and 2005, respectively. With a per
capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2005 of 26 833 dollars and the
unemployment rate of 2,7% in 2006, it is not surprising that you created 173
000 new jobs in 2006.
We are also aware that your country is a popular travel destination, making
tourism one of its largest industries. We are told that about 9,7 million
tourists visited Singapore in 2006.
For our part KwaZulu-Natal is definitely becoming a major tourist
destination of the country. According to statistics provided by the Tourism
Authority of KwaZulu-Natal the province received a total of 11,6 million
domestic visitors and 1,6 million international visitors in 2005. These
visitors brought R20,7 billion into the economy of KwaZulu-Natal.
Our tourism industry retained its number one status as South Africa's
leading domestic tourism destination; Western Cape in terms of overall foreign
tourist arrivals.
For the second time in as many years, we hosted the A1 Grand Prix from 23 to
25 February 2007. Through television and marketing, KwaZulu-Natal was once more
televised to over two billion viewers throughout the world. This amounted to
immeasurable exposure for our province.
Our province is blessed with good rainfall which makes the agricultural
sector an obvious choice for investment. We also boast the largest and busiest
ports in Africa, in Durban Harbour and Richards Bay. Our province also boasts a
rich cultural diversity and abundant wildlife.
Our road and rail infrastructure is among the best in the country and the
continent. We are quickly catching up with other developed countries when it
comes to information technology and we have one of the most advanced financial
systems in Africa.
However, more work still needs to be done. Singapore, through its
Co-operation Programme, provides technical assistance to developing countries
worldwide, in areas of tourism education, aviation and port management.
We have as one of our provincial priorities the development of human
resource capacity because we believe our people will lead and sustain this new
wave of economic growth. We hope that our relationship with Singapore which we
are cementing today will also result in co-operation in the area of increasing
technical skills in our province.
We have no doubt Mr President that this is the start of a long term
relationship. We will work harder to ensure that this important relationship
stays alive and is given every chance it requires to bear fruit for the benefit
of our two countries.
Welcome President Nathan and your official delegation and your business
delegation to the beautiful province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
24 April 2007
