Your Excellency, President Omer Al Bashir,
Honourable Ministers,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Members of the media,
Let me first express my profound gratitude to His Excellency, President Al Bashir for his words of welcome. We further wish to thank him for receiving us on this short visit.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Our visit to this beautiful country is occasioned by the historical relations and friendship that exist between our two nations.
We recall the historic relations between the people of South Africa and the people of the Sudan.
This is a country under whose passport our leader former President Nelson Mandela travelled the world, a testament to the historic ties that bind our two nations.
We wish to take this opportunity to thank the people of the Sudan for their support during the difficult years of the fight against apartheid.
Your Excellency,
We shall never tire to thank the peoples of the world who stood by us during our difficult time.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We have just concluded our bilateral discussions with my Dear Brother, President Al Bashir. During our talks, we reviewed our historical relations.
We have noted with great satisfaction the growing cooperation between our two countries as evidenced by the existence of sixteen (16) bilateral agreements in a number of fields including trade, agriculture, defence, policing, arts and culture, social development, scientific cooperation, to mention but a few.
We have noted with appreciation the growing presence of the South African companies doing business in this beautiful country. We believe that their presence does make a contribution to the economic development of the Sudan.
We also agreed to encourage more public and private sector companies to make joint ventures for the mutual benefit of the two countries and peoples.
In this regard, Mr President, we direct our relevant ministers to work tirelessly to enhance our bilateral cooperation.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Desiring to enhance and elevate the structured bilateral cooperation between South Africa and Sudan, we took an important decision to elevate the Joint Bilateral Commission for Cooperation to a ministerial level. The main objective of the Commission will be to promote political, economic and social relations between our two sister Republics.
In this regard, we have directed our Ministers of International Relations and Cooperation / Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work with speed to conclude an enabling agreement.
Ladies and gentlemen,
During our discussions, we also exchanged views on matters of peace and security in the Continent, paying particular focus on the on-going conflict in South Sudan. To this end, we have committed ourselves to playing our part to help resolve the crisis. The people of South Sudan need peace, security, stability and development.
We also expressed our satisfaction with the manner in which the AU Peace and Security Committee deliberated on this matter.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We also committed ourselves to consulting each other on regular basis on matters of mutual interest.
Let me conclude by thanking President Al Bashir and his Government for the exceptionally warm welcome and unique and generous hospitality extended to us since our arrival.
I thank you.
Enquiries:
Mac Maharaj
Cell: 079 879 3203
E-mail: macmaharaj@icloud.com
