Your Excellency President Pierre Nkurunziza
Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Excellency Ambassadors
Captains of Commerce and Industry
Distinguished guests
Let me once again begin by thanking His Excellency President Nkurunziza, the government and the people of Burundi for inviting me to undertake this state visit to this beautiful country.
We have been humbled by the warmth, friendship and the hospitality extended to us. You have truly made us feel at home in this country which is now a second home to many of us.
We enter day two of the visit confident that the two countries will go far in the process of cementing relations that were forged in the trenches of working together for peace and stability in Burundi.
The discussions we have had with the President have been most fruitful.
We are both agreed that our relations must be elevated to the next level of post-conflict support.
We want to use the relations built during the Burundi peace process to develop a partnership for sustainable development that will benefit both countries.
Mr President
We have been inspired by the progress made in a short space of time, to develop Bujumbura and surroundings.
We are inspired by President Nkurunzia's passion for education, economic growth, social development and for promoting a positive identity for the Burundian people.
We are moved generally by the atmosphere of achievement and of hard work. Everybody wants to do something to boost development in their country, and this augurs well for the future.
All indications point to the fact that Burundi is really poised for change and growth.
Excellencies
The first day of our visit has yielded results in the form of agreements signed that will enable structured cooperation in agriculture, sports and recreation, economic cooperation and defence.
We have agreed to cooperate on the alleviation of poverty and to ensure a better life for all of our people. In so doing, emphasis has been placed on trade and investment.
We want to see visible action from this State Visit. The Memorandum of Understanding on Economic Cooperation concluded during this visit will surely unlock the economic potential between the two countries.
Our departments responsible for trade and industry have been directed to prepare a programme of action that will outline how the two countries will work together to boost investments and increase volumes of trade between the two countries.
There are various possible areas of cooperation that we trust our businesspeople are already looking into.
These include tourism, energy, infrastructure development, defence, financial services, transport and agriculture.
We look forward to deepening cooperation in agriculture in particular, which is the backbone of the Burundian economy, hence the agreement signed.
We will also work together to promote skills development and research through the envisaged partnerships in higher education and training and we have signed an agreement in this regard.
We look forward to people to people exchanges and cooperation in sports and recreation.
To promote soccer development and sports cooperation, South Africa will soon deliver 3000 soccer balls to the youth of Burundi! This will be the beginning of ongoing engagement on the sports fields.
Such engagement at an informal level will surely further cement the good relations between the two countries.
Your Excellency President Nkurunziza, let me state that we fully support your idea of establishing a South Africa-Burundi Friendship Society.
Our two countries have come a long way indeed and developed deep-seated friendship which must be enhanced for the common good of our peoples.
Given that we have so much that we want to do together, this State Visit is clearly just the beginning of deeper and more focused bilateral relations.
We look forward to receiving President Nkurunziza in South Africa for a State Visit, at a date to be worked out through diplomatic channels.
We also look forward to hosting you, Your Excellency during the centenary celebrations of the African National Congress on 8 January 2012.
We are really pleased, Your Excellency, to be in Burundi for this state visit. It has been a wonderful, humbling and a very emotional visit for us.
Finally and most importantly, we sincerely congratulate the Burundian people for choosing the path of peace, which has brought us to this phase in our relations.
Let us work together to further deepen our friendship and cooperation. We owe it to our peoples.
I thank you!
Source: The Presidency
