Your Excellency, President dos Santos,
Honourable ministers,
Members of the media,
Good morning:
I wish to extend very warm welcome and fraternal greetings to my brother, comrade and friend, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and the members of his delegation on the occasion of this historic state visit to South Africa.
This is a significant occasion in the history of the two countries and of a liberated South Africa.
This is the President’s first State Visit to this country since we attained our freedom, for which the Angolan people sacrificed so much.
As we welcome the President to South Africa we also remember our shared past.
It was from the Angolan soil that we executed many military campaigns against apartheid South Africa. It was with the moral and material support of the Angolan people that we managed to defeat apartheid.
Therefore ours is a relationship that was formed through great sacrifices and is not a normal or usual bilateral relationship between two countries.
Your Excellency,
It is appropriate that the two nations that fought so hard against apartheid and colonialism together are now united in fighting for freedom from poverty and for an improved quality of life of the Angolan and South African people.
We remember our highly successful and memorable visit to Angola country last year, which enabled our two countries to sign several agreements and memoranda of understanding.
In this regard, we wish once more to thank Your Excellency for the warm reception and hospitality accorded to us during that visit.
Your Excellency,
Our bilateral partnership spans across a wide spectrum covering political, economical and social cooperation.
This morning, President dos Santos and I had fruitful discussions on matters of mutual interest between our two countries.
We are satisfied with the progress achieved thus far in our bilateral cooperation.
In our discussions, we emphasised the importance of strengthening our bilateral relations in a number of fields, including energy, agriculture, mining, arts and culture, infrastructural development, communications, education, health and sport.
Of particular importance is the need to prioritise economic cooperation through trade and investment thus create job opportunities in our respective countries.
In this regard, the South Africa-Angola Business Forum currently taking place parallel to this session, run by our Ministers responsible for trade, will go a long way in identifying further areas of economic cooperation between the private sectors of our two countries.
We have also emphasised the need to expedite the implementation of all signed agreements and memoranda of understanding.
Ladies and gentlemen,
More instruments have been added to the list of agreements and memoranda of understanding signed between our two countries.
In this regard, we have just witnessed the signing of five memoranda of understanding.
These are the Memoranda of Understanding on Public Works and Infrastructure Development as well as Telecommunications and Information Technologies and also a Declaration of Intent on the Utilisation of Financial Facilities.
In addition there was signature of an Energy Implementation Plan; and a Protocol on Technical Cooperation on Veterinary Services.
Your Excellency,
The signing of these instruments is a clear indication of our collective determination to take our relations to higher levels for the mutual benefit of our respective countries.
We have also directed our Ministers to work towards finalization of other outstanding agreements. These include the Arts and Culture Agreement, Agreement on Education and the Merchant Shipping Agreement.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In our discussions, we also reflected on the centrality of Southern African Development (SADC) in our efforts to forge regional integration in Southern Africa.
This, we did against the backdrop of Angola assuming the Chair of SADC in 2011 while South Africa will take over the Chair of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security.
Therefore, our two countries will be entrusted with responsibilities ranging from economic integration to peace, security and stability in the region.
Of course, we also exchanged views on the latest political developments on the continent.
On the international front, we have reiterated the need to reform the United Nations, particularly the Security Council and the Bretton Woods Institutions.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I conclude by reiterating our pleasure in having our esteemed guest, President dos Santos and his delegation on this historic visit to South Africa.
We are happy with the outcomes of our discussions. These outcomes serve to confirm our long standing relations and our determination to forge a strategic partnership.
Tomorrow, we will visit Robben Island where you will be able to share the experiences of many of your peers who dedicated their lives to freedom as you did Mr President.
This historic visit will go down in history books as the final cementing of relations between two nations who will forever be bound by a history of struggle, sacrifice and common dedication to freedom, justice and a better life for all in the respective countries and in the continent.
I thank you.
Source: The Presidency
