the occasion of the State Visit to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,
Hanoi
24 May 2007
Your Excellency, President Nguyen Minh Triet and Madam Tran Thi Kim
Chi,
Your Excellency, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Madam Tran Thanh
Kiem,
Your Excellencies, Deputy Prime Ministers,
Your Excellencies, Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Your Excellencies, Ambassadors,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen
My wife, my entire delegation and I are honoured and very delighted to pay a
state visit to your beautiful country and would like to express our gratitude
for the warm hospitality extended to us by the Government and the sister people
of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
On behalf of our delegation, I would like to convey the warmest greetings of
the Government and people of South Africa to you, Your Excellency and to the
Government and the people of Vietnam.
Your Excellency, let me take this opportunity, during this historic visit,
the first by a South African President, to thank the leadership and the people
of this country for teaching many liberation movements, including our own, the
importance of valour, discipline, resilience and steadfastness in the face of
some of the most formidable and brutal forces of colonialism and apartheid.
From the indefatigable Uncle Ho to General Giap we learnt the importance of
tactics and strategies as we prosecuted a peopleâs war, but equally and
importantly, we understood very well that our struggle was aimed at restoring
humanity to those regarded by their oppressors as sub-human as well as to the
same oppressors who falsely believed that their birth-mark bestowed unto them,
the title of super human-beings.
Indeed, few among those who fought for their freedom can claim that the
heroic struggle of the people of this country did not impact positively on
their own struggles. When, during the long and difficult struggle against
apartheid, the morale of some of us was low, when some thought that the
struggle was too tough and the oppressor too strong to be defeated, we cast our
eyes to the east and drew strength and courage from the resilience of the
people of this country.
Your Excellency, I am conveying the sincere sentiments of the people of
South Africa when I say: thank you for helping us believe that no matter how
strong and formidable the oppressors are, those on the side of truth will
always be victorious.
Your Excellency, you may recall that in 1978 the African National Congress
visited Vietnam and the leadership of both our countries committed themselves
to a collaboration that would strengthen the independence and reconstruction of
Vietnam as well as to the struggle against apartheid that culminated in the
liberation of South Africa in 1994.
Today, we have returned to you, our friends and comrades, to strengthen a
new collaboration against poverty, underdevelopment and addressing the
marginalisation of our countries and regions from the political economy of the
world.
Your Excellency, we are here to strengthen and further confirm our
commitment to our political and economic relations. Our presence here is, among
others to build-on the 'Vietnam-South Africa Joint Statement on the Partnership
for Co-operation and Development' which I signed with Prime Minister Phan Van
Khai during his visit to South Africa in November 2004.
We are therefore very happy that we have signed the Minute of the First
Session of the Vietnam-South Africa Partnership Forum; the Agreement on
Co-operation between our Foreign Ministries and the Agreement on the Exemption
of Visas for Holders of Diplomatic and Official Passports.
I am sure you would agree with me, Your Excellency, that our two-way trade,
which is $155 million, is very low and that our close political relations
should also be reflected in our substantially improved and strengthened
economic bonds.
Accordingly, we strongly encourage business-to-business interaction and we
are, on this visit, accompanied by a business delegation and would like to
urge, in this regard, that concrete partnerships should be forged between
Vietnamese and South African business.
In addition, we welcome the possibility for further strengthening our
economic relations through such important processes as:
* the establishment of formal co-operation between government departments
dealing with areas such as minerals, energy, water, trade and agriculture
* the collaboration between state institutions such as Petro-SA and
Petro-Vietnam, Mintek of South Africa and the Vietnamese mining company,
Vinacomin, and others
* the Joint Trade Committee meeting to be held here in Vietnam in the next few
months and
* seminars and investment promotion missions that will be conducted in
our respective countries.
Your Excellency, we should move with the necessary speed to make real the
co-operation on education, science and technology as well as arts and culture
and ensure that exchanges of students, researchers and experts in these fields
should help to consolidate people-people relations.
I am proud to congratulate the government and people of this country for the
impressive all-round achievements in the last 20 years of 'Doi moi'(Renovation)
and I am confident that our co-operation will greatly benefit our people as we
engage our own programme of reconstruction and development. Your Excellency,
all of us appreciate the role that Vietnam is playing in the context of
South-South relations, within the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the New
Asia-Africa Strategic Partnership (NAASP) as well as in other multilateral
organisations.
As Africans we are really strengthened by your collaboration with other
partners on our continent on the many initiatives that you have undertaken to
help Africa overcome poverty and underdevelopment. These initiatives are a
direct positive response by the Vietnamese Government and the entire Vietnamese
society to work together with the African continent within the programme of the
New Partnership for Africaâs Development (Nepad).
Your Excellency, South Africa fully supports the possibility of Vietnam
becoming a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and I am
confident that together we will co-operate, as we have done in the past, to
advance the agenda of the countries of the South.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Please rise and join me in a toast to the good health and prosperity of His
Excellency, President Nguyen Minh Triet, Madam Tran Thi Kim Chi and to the
friendship between the peoples of Vietnam and South Africa.
To friendship!
Xin Com on! Thank you.
Issued by: The Presidency
24 May 2007
Source: The Presidency (http://www.thepresidency.gov.za)
