Your Excellency, Prime Minister Erdoan
Fellow Ministers
Deputy Ministers
Ambassador Seokolo, South Africa’s Ambassador to Turkey, and Ambassador Altan, Turkey’s
Ambassador to South Africa
I thank the Prime Minister for his warm welcome.
Mr Prime Minister, as you may know, Turkey is one of the largest economies in the region and more importantly, a major trading partner with South Africa, in the Central and Eastern Europe Region.
South Africa and Turkey are both at similar stages of development with complementary national priorities that seek to address national development goals, particularly in the areas of:
* poverty and unemployment
* agriculture and rural development
* education and skills development
* improving the quality of health care
* enhancing economic competitiveness and improving our business environment
* infrastructure development and modernisation
* enhancing the role of small and medium enterprises
* growing our manufacturing bases.
These complementarities provide a good platform for the establishment of a mutually beneficial developmental partnership. The strengthening and enhancement of our political, economic and commercial relations is therefore critical for the advancement of our national priorities.
That’s what brings us together in this meeting today.
Beyond these national interests, we have areas of mutual concern and areas of potential cooperation in the multilateral field where our bilateral relations could be enhanced.
Turkey is at the cross roads in the political landscape of this region; the middle, the near east and central Europe where many countries are still striving for solutions to conflicts, and to unresolved national questions from the legacies of the cold war era.
Turkey’s role here has not gone unnoticed and we encourage Turkey to do its part to help the region resolve its challenges so that these countries can become part of a world of democratic and prosperous nations free from tensions that have impeded their full development.
We look to Turkey to fulfil that positive role and be our partner in the United Nations forum when it comes to cooperation in the resolution of the most pressing challenges of our times in our respective regions.
South Africa does its part to play its role as well in the Africa region, because we believe as a country, our own growth lies in Africa’s development.
South Africa therefore, continues to prioritise the African peace, security and sustainable development Agenda in our regional, continental and global engagements. To that end, we already have joint commitments made in the Africa – Turkey that was held in Istanbul in August, 2008.
Our presence in Ankara today is a confirmation of our commitment to these relationships and to address matters of common interest so that we can strengthen our partnership.
Your Excellency, in the sixteen years of South Africa’s freedom, we have built strong relations with Turkey. In 2000, we signed a Protocol on Political Consultations and provided for these consultations to take place on regular intervals.
Our President, Jacob Zuma, at the time, a Deputy President of our Republic in 2003, visited Turkey for the first high level official visit to this country at your invitation. My visit makes it the second official visit. Similarly several Ministerial and senior officials’ meetings have taken place and several important decisions and agreements concluded.
The strength of this delegation, as well, is a clear testimony, that South Africa has a strong commitment to strengthen our relations and facilitate the implementation of decisions taken.
At the end of this visit, Your Excellency and dear friends, we hope to have mapped a clear way forward for the enhancement of our political, economic and commercial relations. We also hope to have exchanged views on important regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest to both countries.
While noting that Turkey’s annual trade amounts to 280 billion United States Dollar (USD), this amount represents only one percent of trade between our two countries. Clearly, this shows that there is still a huge potential for increased trade between our two nations.
Prime Minister, as you know, South Africa is hosting the World Cup in two weeks. As Chairperson of the Western Cape 2010 Ministerial Committee, I had to give a report to Parliament on the state of readiness of the government and the nation.
We have made good on our promise to the world and to South Africa and are proud to share with you that we have built a magnificent infrastructure and we have created an atmosphere for the visitors to enjoy to the fullest, the first World Cup ever on the African continent. This project has helped put our economy on the fast track and accelerated development.
Our government is committed to rolling back the frontiers of poverty and fulfils the objectives of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2014. As we complete the World Cup project, we have new plans for an Industrial Development strategy.
The President of the Republic has recently appointed a National Planning Commission with a diversity of professions and the finest expertise the country has to offer, that will assist in making forecasts beyond short term horizons in a coordinated integrated fashion across sectors and government’s spheres.
We invite all our international partners and Turkey to renew their faith in investing in our economy and partner with us in building a better Africa, a better Turkey and a prosperous world for all.
I thank you.
Issued by: The Presidency
25 May 2010
