Mlambo-Ngcuka and Prime Minister Martinho Dafa Cabi of Guinea Bissau,
Presidential Guesthouse, Pretoria
6 August 2007
Deputy President Mlambo-Ngcuka
Thank you very much and good day to ladies and gentlemen of the media.
I would once more like to welcome my guest Prime Minister Martinho Dafa Cabi
of Guinea Bissau and his delegation. His delegation includes the Ministers of
Defence and Health.
Many of you will probably know that we have a long relationship with the
people of Guinea Bissau as the ruling party and this meeting allows us to renew
this relationship within the context of parties and to explore the kinds of
projects we wish to have between both countries. In our discussions we
identified areas of co-operation some of which is already work in progress.
Prime Minister Cabi will also elaborate on some of this. Some of these areas
are in the economic area, health and defence.
Regarding economic co-operation, the Prime Minister is accompanied by a
large business delegation. They will have an opportunity to interact with South
African business representatives tomorrow.
We as government are looking at addressing regulatory frameworks like the
Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Protection of Investments. These are key
elements necessary to facilitate an enabling environment for investors in
Guinea Bissau.
MTN is already operational in Guinea Bissau and we would wish to attract
other companies to invest in Guinea Bissau.
We would like to encourage Guinea Bissau to use the resources available
under New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) for infrastructure
development, and also the African Infrastructure Fund that has just been
launched at the African Union Summit in Ghana last month. This fund should
reach a billion rand by 2008. It is obvious that Guinea Bissau will not be able
to realise its great potential without infrastructure development.
There is ongoing co-operation between the Ministries of Defence that will
culminate in the signing of an agreement between the two departments during
this visit.
The South Africa government has taken a decision to open an Embassy in
Guinea Bissau. We hope this will take place during the current financial
year.
Thank you very much.
Prime Minister Dafa Cabi
Thank you very much Ms Deputy President.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Deputy President for the
invitation extended to myself and my delegation to visit South Africa to come
and greet the government and people of South Africa particularly the African
National Congress.
This visit is aimed at consolidating relations with the South African
government and to reiterate the friendship we share with the ruling party. You
will see that in our delegation we have majority leaders of our ruling
party.
We would like to thank you for the warm reception we have received since
yesterday.
This meeting is going to serve as a good example of South-South
co-operation, and show that Africans are able to co-operate among themselves
and look for our own solutions.
I was asked why we had planned to visit South Africa at this time. This is a
very good example of the spirit of friendship and brotherhood that existed
between the late Oliver Tambo and Amilcar Cabral. These are the historical ties
that have existed for very long and that we are here to renew. I would once
more like to say that my delegation feels very honoured to be here in South
Africa today.
We have just begun our discussions and we are thus far very pleased at the
way in which these discussions have been conducted.
Our country has experienced serious economic, financial and political
challenges. We will not shy away from discussing such issues with our brothers
and sisters. The war that took place in 1998 crippled our economy, institutions
and way of life. It also paralysed our infrastructure including energy and road
infrastructure. We also have serious security challenges in our country. These
are some of the issues we have discussed with the South African delegation. We
do have a serious drug problem in our country although we do not produce drugs.
This problem results from the weakness of our institutions. We realise this is
not a problem that is unique to Guinea Bissau but exists throughout Africa.
We feel that we need to discuss these issues with our South African
counterparts and to look for solutions.
Questions and answers
Question: Prime Minister Cabi, could you be more specific on exactly what
you are requesting in terms of capacity to deal with drug trafficking? Could
you also elaborate on the Defence Agreement that will be signed?
Answer: We know that South Africa is a great country within the Continent in
terms of human resource, financial and logistical resources. We in Guinea
Bissau have a vast country that we are not able to adequately take care of. We
also have a challenge with regard to the training of people. It is these issues
we are here to discuss. We also have the challenge of judicial police and the
training of our defence force. We would like to receive South Africa's
experience in these aspects. We are here to discuss such matters with South
Africa.
Question: Prime Minister, (inaudible)
Answer: During our term in office (last three months), we have not
experienced this situation of journalists being threatened. We, by our nature
as a party, and as a country defend and uphold principles of human rights. We
do not however defend anarchy. The State must have its own mechanisms with
which to deal with such matters. The State cannot allow activities that are
aimed at weakening the functions of the State.
As you talk of journalists, this was not a journalist but an official that
was accusing our officials of acts which had no basis. This was not the first
time and these accusations are always without factual basis. This individual is
very confused. I am not sure why this individual feels such uncertainty. We do
not have the death penalty nor exercise any form of persecution in Guinea
Bissau. We suggest he take the matter before a court of law.
We have not said the matter of drug trafficking is underplayed. We have
always treated the matter very, very seriously. We know that drug traffickers
have the capacity to destroy a State, not taking into account the matter of
public health. This is a serious matter for us. It is exactly because of this
that our government worked out an emergency programme against drug trafficking.
This is a programme that is now being discussed in the country since we like
the participation of all citizens. We know that this is not a problem for the
government but is a societal problem.
We also know that the problems in Guinea Bissau are not unique to us; this
is a regional challenge and exists in Cape Verde, The Gambia and Senegal. In
order to address this we have scheduled a sub-regional conference for later
this year, dedicated to this particular matter, i.e., border control issues.
The weakness of our borders is again not unique to Guinea Bissau and requires a
joint effort to resolve. This constitutes a very serious problem for us.
Question: Deputy President Mlambo-Ngcuka, could you elaborate on the plans
South Africa has to assist Guinea-Bissau in health and the agreement on double
taxation?
Answer: On the issue of human resources, health or otherwise, the issue is
training and to share our training capacity. Once of the issues mentioned is
that of drug control. I do not think that we position ourselves as a country
that has all the answers or the capacity to respond but we can exchange
lessons, even where we have failed, since we have common challenges.
On the issue of human resources, it is to encourage the citizens of
Guinea-Bissau to use our training facilities. That is why we have suggested
training programmes in the field of English so that they are able to use our
training facilities.
In the area of defence, it would involve, sending our own trainers to assist
the trainers of the country.
The agreement on normal taxation is a normal agreement that is signed with
many countries in which South Africans have trade and investment interests in
order to ensure that when our companies invest in another country, they are not
taxed in both countries and vice versa.
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
6 August 2007
