Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Max Sisulu, and the President of the Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique, Dr Veronica Macamo Dlhovo, today held a first bilateral meeting between the two parliaments and signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding.
This, the first parliament-to-parliament cooperation agreement between South Africa and an African country, establishes a formal mechanism to concretise the two country’s parliamentary relations.
It encourages:
- Sharing experiences and information, including expertise and best practice about the rules of parliamentary procedure.
- Exchanging experience and best practice on the budget process, the ability of Parliaments to amend the national budget and the role of the Parliamentary Budget Office.
- Monitoring bilateral agreements signed by the two governments.
- Training and development of Members of parliament and parliamentary staff.
- Working together in multilateral bodies, such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum, the Inter Parliamentary Union and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
- Exchange programmes in relevant fields identified by respective Parliamentary Committees.
Speaking at the meeting, Mr Sisulu and Dr Macamo Dlhovo acknowledged the deep historical and political links which bound the two countries. They further highlighted common challenges, which included underdevelopment, poverty and HIV and AIDS.
Mr Sisulu said the two parliaments’ role was to encourage their respective governments’ bilateral relations and to enhance cooperation in areas of mutual interest. He highlighted Mozambique’s rich natural energy resources.
“Our growing economic relations must benefit and increase economic prosperity for all our people. The relationship between our economies must assist to increase our countries’ economic growth to address the challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment,” Mr Sisulu said.
Legislators needed to support the role our countries were playing in promoting inter-regional and continental trade because regional economic integration was an important element of the development of Africa.
“Our legislatures need to raise this matter of regional and continental economic integration in our regional and continental parliamentary structures such the SADC Parliamentary Forum and the Pan African parliament to assist each other in growing our economies. Regional integration is the lifeblood for economic growth and development in Africa,” Mr Sisulu said.
In identifying focus areas for cooperation, the approach should be to align parliamentary exchanges with areas covered in agreements signed between the two countries. “This will ensure that we assist in the implementation of the agreements while we also share experiences among our parliaments on the process of overseeing the implementation of these agreements by our governments,” said Mr Sisulu.
He conveyed the gratitude of the people of South Africa for the support of the leaders and the people of the Republic of Mozambique for South Africa’s liberation struggle against apartheid. “The support of your country was a hallmark of true friendship which we the people of South Africa highly appreciated. Thank you for your support and friendship,” Mr Sisulu said.
