honour of his Excellency, the President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, on
the occasion of the State Banquet, Presidential Guest House, Tshwane
12 December 2006
Your Excellency, President Vaclav Klaus and Madame Livia Klausova
Your Excellency, the Deputy President of South Africa, Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Your Excellencies, Ambassadors, High Commissioners and members of the
Diplomatic Corps
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Your Excellency, my wife and I are very privileged to extend a warm South
African welcome to you, your dear wife and the rest of your delegation. We are
very happy that you are here with us because South Africa attaches the greatest
importance to the building of close and cordial relations of friendship and
mutually beneficial co-operation between our two countries and people.
We are indeed very grateful, Mr President, that you found time to visit us,
accompanied by important government and business leaders of the Czech people.
Your visit to our country has served further to cement the friendly relations
between our two countries and once more, confirms our mutual commitment to the
strengthening of the partnership between our countries and people.
Our substantive and wide-ranging talks this morning and the important
agreements we have signed constitute a practical expression of our mutual
determination to give real meaning to that partnership. As South Africans, we
share with the people of the Czech Republic the vision and commitment to create
strong and prosperous societies underpinned by a vibrant democracy, the rule of
law and respect for basic human and people's rights, not only in our two
countries, but also everywhere else in the world.
Accordingly, Your Excellency, I am certain that we will continue to use our
relative strengths to translate this common perspective into reality. I am
confident that among other things, the agreements that we signed today will
help us to achieve this objective. These, as you know, Your Excellency,
are:
* the Agreement on Economic Co-operation
* the Memorandum of Understanding on Co-operation between Chambers of Commerce
and Industry South Africa (CHAMSA) and the Economic Chamber of the Czech
Republic
* the Letter of Intent on Scientific and Technological Co-operation.
Your Excellency, our two countries have already laid a firm foundation from
which to proceed to consolidate our economic relations. The trade figures
indicate that South Africa constitutes the biggest trading partner of the Czech
Republic in Sub-Saharan Africa, with our country accounting for nearly 40% of
your total trade with the region.
One concrete example of the possibility to expand our economic relations,
extending beyond trade, is that of the major investment of SABMiller in the
Czech Republic, which has created a leading beer producer in Central Europe and
the largest exporter of Czech beer, reaching more than 50 countries.
I trust that the interaction between the business leaders who accompanied
you and our business people will give a further and significant impulse to the
strengthening of our economic relations, affecting both trade and
investment.
Further, Your Excellency, we should work together to encourage
people-to-people contact, through cultural, scientific, educational and sports
exchanges, as well as by promoting two-way tourism between our countries.
Indeed, we are honoured that the Czech Republic, well-known for her sporting
prowess, allows her best and famous athletes regularly to train at our
Potchefstroom University as they prepare themselves to participate in
international sports events.
We are very pleased Your Excellency that we also have the possibility to
draw on the store of excellent scholarship that resides within the Czech
Republic, to train our own people especially in the important areas of science,
technology and engineering.
We are also very encouraged by the work the Czech Republic is doing in
Africa, and are confident that you will continue to strengthen your partnership
with us so as to give meaning to one of the African Union's objectives of
creating a developed and prosperous Africa.
In this regard, I must say that the engagement of the European Union with
the development programme of the African Union, the New Partnership for
Africa's Development (NEPAD), is critical because through this programme,
together we can help to accelerate the critical process leading to the
renaissance of Africa, ensuring that the millions of Africans on our continent
have the possibility to defeat poverty and underdevelopment.
As Your Excellency is aware, three weeks from now, South Africa will take
its seat in the United Nations Security Council for the period 2007 to 2008 as
a non-permanent member. We hope that the Czech Republic will do likewise for
the 2008 to 2009 period.
This emphasises the need for us to intensify our collaboration and
partnership at the multilateral level. This we should do, among others, to
encourage faster reform of the United Nations so that this important world body
becomes a truly democratic forum of all the nations of the world, reflecting
the political and other realities of the 21st century. I am also confident that
together we will use our membership of the Security Council to strengthen peace
and security throughout the world.
Your Excellency, during the difficult days of our struggle against
apartheid, the Czech people stood shoulder to shoulder with us and many South
Africans regarded your country as a home away from home. I would like to take
this opportunity to thank all our friends in the Czech Republic and convey to
them, through you, Your Excellency, the message that our people still highly
appreciate the fact that the distance between our countries did not deter them
from identifying with our struggle.
We therefore say to you, Your Excellency, Madame Klausova, your delegation
and the people of the Czech Republic, that you too should regard South Africa
as a home away from home.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Please rise and join me in a toast to the good health and prosperity of His
Excellency, President Vaclav Klaus and Madame Livia Klausova and to the warm
friendship between the peoples of the Czech Republic and South Africa. To
friendship!
Thank you.
Issued by: The Presidency
12 December 2006
