occasion of the farewell cocktail in honour of Ambassador Mauricio de Maria y
Campos of Mexico
14 May 2007
Your Excellency, Ambassador Mauricio de Maria y Campos
Ambassadors and High Commissioners
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
It is a great pleasure to welcome you to this function to bid farewell to a
dear friend of South Africa, who has represented Mexico for the last five years
in our country with great distinction. He was also the Dean of the Group of
Latin America and Caribbean (GRULAC) Missions in South Africa. Before coming to
South Africa, Ambassador de Maria y Campos enjoyed an illustrious career in the
field of foreign affairs and we were greatly honoured by his presence in our
country. He was an advisor to the previous Deputy Foreign Minister of Mexico
responsible for Africa, Ambassador Morena. He also served as Deputy Minister
under the previous PRI Administration, from 1982-1997 and was Director-General
of the United Nations Organisation for Industrial Development, based in Vienna,
from 1993-1997.
As you can appreciate, he brought with him a vast amount of experience
coming into his post as Ambassador to South Africa and this showed during his
tour of duty. As the third Mexican Ambassador to South Africa, he not only
skilfully nurtured the existing ties between Mexico and South Africa but he
also actively and with Mexican passion continued to forge a better
understanding and knowledge of his country in South Africa by exposing South
Africans to the colourful and extremely rich culture that is Mexico.
I know that Ambassador y Campos loved South Africa. He travelled extensively
to every single corner of the country and he never got tired or exhausted of
travelling. He was a well-known personality and an extremely active person, so
much so that he was continuously invited to participate in conferences,
workshops, discussions and off course, he accepted all such invitations and he
loved to participate actively in these events. South Africa and Mexico enjoy
cordial bilateral relations. In this regard, Ambassador De Campos has been
working tirelessly to raise relations between South Africa and Mexico in both
the economical and political field as well as in the multilateral arena, to a
higher level.
As a matter of fact, Ambassador Mauricio de Maria y Campos, officially
informed Minister Dlamini Zuma during the last few days, that the government of
Mexico has decided to strengthen the existing relations with South Africa
through the creation of a bilateral consultation mechanism on multilateral
issues.
Mexico and South Africa work closely together in multilateral fora and share
and feel the same on so many issues such as South-South cooperation,
environment, human rights and nuclear disarmament. The establishment of a
consultation mechanism on multilateral issues would allow both countries to
reinforce our bilateral cooperation and would assist us to coordinate actions
in the multilateral field.
Our cordial political relations are also underpinned by growing trade
relations. Trade between the two countries has been growing steadily since 1993
when Mexico lifted its ban on trade with South Africa and the two nations for
the first time began to have direct commerce taking place. A pleasing
development is the increasing diversification of goods and the fact that trade
between the countries rather complement each other than being in competition.
Mexican exports to South Africa are dominated by heavy machinery and mechanical
equipment, electrical equipment, optical measuring instruments and vehicle and
truck parts. Official trade figures are however not accurate and do not reflect
the exact extent of trade between our two countries as enormous amount of trade
are triangulated through America and Europe, leading to inaccurate trade
figures.
Thanks to this continued growth, Mexico is now South Africa's second largest
trade partner in Latin America after Brazil, while South Africa has become
Mexico's largest trading partner in Africa. I know that it was frustrating for
the Ambassador that during his time he could not bring more Mexican trade
delegations to South Africa. The delegations that did visit South Africa during
2006 were invited and paid for by the South African government. Beyond
political and trade relations, our two countries have also recognised the
importance of promoting people-to-people contact as a means of further
strengthening our relations. Towards this end, a Cultural Cooperation Agreement
was signed by Minister Pallo Jordan in 2005 in Mexico, following the
participation of more than 200 South African artists at the Cervantino
festival.
During his term in South Africa, the Ambassador ensured that no less than 50
events were organised in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Grahamstown and Cape Town with
Mexican performers. Numerous Mexican film festivals and cultural events were
arranged to expose South Africans to the Mexican culture. The Cultural
Cooperation Agreement has been renewed for another three years, as so much more
can be done to promote culture between our two countries. A certified replica
of an OLMEC Head, commissioned by the government of Veracruz State and
presented to South Africa as a symbol of the growing friendship between Mexico
and South Africa, is now permanently at the Pretoria Art Museum for all
visitors to appreciate.
Your Excellency, we look forward to working with your successor on
outstanding matters such as the Mexican proposal for an institutionalised
Bilateral Mechanism (Bi-national Commission). Our two countries have already
signed the Bilateral Cooperation Agreement on issues of mutual interest, which
will provide a basis to get a Bi-national Commission off the ground. We see
such a mechanism as a necessity to solidify existing relations and build on new
possibilities as a definite and worthwhile goal to strife for. The groundwork
has been laid for a possible visit in the not-too-distance future to Mexico by
our Deputy President, accompanied by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Social
Development, Department of Trade and Industry (dti), Minerals and Energy and
accompanied by a small but strong business delegation.
Ambassador De Maria y Campos, please accept our sincere gratitude and
appreciation for your kindness, professionalism and friendship over these past
few years and for the contribution that you have made to further strengthening
the web of ties that bind our two countries. You leave a proud legacy and a
solid foundation for us to build on. I hope that you and Mrs De Campos will
always remember your time in South Africa with a great deal of fondness and
that we will be able to welcome you back to our country before long.
Please raise your glasses and join me in wishing His Excellency all the best
for a new chapter of his life on his return to Mexico.
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
14 May 2007
Source: Department of Foreign Affairs (http://www.dfa.gov.za)
