Lekota, on the occasion of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding
(Defence Co-operation) with the Ministry of Defence of the Socialist Republic
of Vietnam during the visit of the Vietnamese Minister of Defence, Gen Pham Van
Tra, Pretoria
9 May 2006
Programme Director,
The Vietnamese Minister of Defence, honourable General Pham Van Tra,
Senior members of your delegation,
Members of the Vietnamese general staff,
Senior staff and generals of the South African Department of Defence,
It is an honour for me to welcome and host you and your delegation on your
first visit to the Republic of South Africa.
My visit to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam during October last year was
an immense privilege and a wonderful experience. I will not forget your
hospitality, kindness and the continued solidarity of your people towards South
Africa, a reminder of a shared history of the protracted struggles for freedom
of two countries so far apart and yet so close in spirit.
I felt especially privileged to meet the legendary General Giap, considered
by many of us as one of the greatest military leaders of the 20th century. That
was certainly a moment to cherish.
Your acceptance of my invitation to visit South Africa is tangible evidence
of the importance of the longstanding and strategic relationship between our
two countries.
A major milestone in our shared history took place in 1978 when an African
National Congress (ANC) delegation under the leadership of one of the icons of
our struggle for freedom, the late Oliver Tambo, visited Vietnam in order to
study the Vietnamese model of a successful revolution. The intention was to
apply this approach to the ongoing liberation struggle in South Africa.
Significantly one of the members of that six person delegation was South
Africa's President Thabo Mbeki.
Since then our bilateral relationship has grown beyond the establishment of
the diplomatic relationship in 1993 and the opening of our respective embassies
during 2000 and 2002.
We have now reached the stage where concrete co-operation programmes can be
agreed upon as witnessed by the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) on defence co-operation this morning.
South Africa and Vietnam have a lot in common ranging from the shared
history of resistance against colonial oppressors through successful armed
struggles, to ongoing governmental campaigns of job creation, skills
development, social upliftment, economic growth and poverty alleviation.
The South African government is now single minded and fully focussed on
accelerating broad national participation in the economy of this country
through skills transfer and job creation. It is with this in mind that I have
invited a delegation from the Vietnamese Armed Forces (VAF) to visit the South
African National Defence Force (SANDF) as a matter of priority to transfer
specialist knowledge and skills to SANDF members earmarked for Peace
Missions.
These SANDF members will in return not only pass on their newly acquired
knowledge and skills within communities in the host countries, but also
transfer skills locally to their own communities back in South Africa on their
return, thereby contributing to poverty alleviation and social upliftment at
home.
General Van Tra,
Yesterday in our parliament in Cape Town we celebrated the 10th anniversary
of a Constitution that ensures that every South African has an equal right to
quality of life and human dignity, the foundation of our democracy. Today we
sign an agreement that symbolises our commitment to defend this
Constitution.
I have no doubt that the formalisation of the defence diplomatic
relationship here today will be fruitful and will lead to closer co-operation
in our mutual vision for the future of our people.
Please convey the South African government's sincerest appreciation to your
government for the continuous support to and solidarity with our country in
various fields. I am honoured to sign this MoU with you here today.
With these few words I now invite you to address the meeting.
I thank you!
Issued by: Ministry of Defence
9 May 2006
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