Toast remarks by His Excellency, President JG Zuma, at the luncheon hosted in his honour by Prime Minister Yves Leterme of the Kingdom of Belgium, on the occasion of the official visit to Brussels, Belgium

Prime Minister Leterme
Ministers
Ministers-president
Your excellencies, ambassadors of South Africa and Belgium
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

On behalf of my entire delegation, I wish to thank you, prime minister for your kind words of welcome.

Allow me to firstly congratulate Belgium with assuming the Presidency of the European Union. We wish you well in dealing with important issues during your tenure as the Presidency.

May I also, through the prime minister express our sincere gratitude to the government and the people of the Kingdom of Belgium for the invitation and the hospitality that has been extended to us since our arrival in Belgium.

Prime Minister, the warm welcome and the hospitality has reminded us of our history and excellent ties between the two countries and its peoples.

Our two countries have over the years signed bilateral agreements in various fields, which further enhanced the excellent relations between South Africa and Belgium.

Of particular importance is the Joint Commission for Cooperation which held its last regular meeting during October 2009. We have to ensure steady implementation of this, and other agreements, for the mutual benefit of our peoples.

Mr prime minister,
Your excellencies,

South Africa is committed to work closely with Belgium in the identification and implementation of various projects, which have the potential to assist South Africa in achieving its development objectives in a win-win situation with all stakeholders concerned: education, health, rural development, employment and fighting crime.

Furthermore, the identification and further exploration of projects aimed in particular at skills development and job creation, promises continued close cooperation between our two countries.

The outcome of these discussions is a clear demonstration of the progress we have made in establishing a firm base on which we can continue to build on our excellent bilateral relations and which is indicative of the friendship that exists between our peoples.

In our agreed areas of discussion today with the prime minister, we reflected on the progress made in terms of the Joint Commission for Cooperation and we are happy with the progress achieved thus far.

We will further continue to work together in Africa as partners, particularly in the Great Lakes region and to help ensure the successful hosting and implementation of the outcomes of the Africa-European Union (Africa-EU) Summit.

Further, Prime Minister, we will equally endeavour to work together in mutual support in the multilateral field to help ensure winning outcomes.

We are pleased with the increase of tourists from Belgium to South Africa. Belgium has recently entered the top 10 league of countries with the highest number of tourist arrivals to South Africa.

In conclusion, may I take this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation to you, Mr Prime Minister, Belgian companies and the people of Belgium for the support given to us during the hosting of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup.

Your salutary comments have not gone unnoticed and are deeply and sincerely appreciated.

The memory and experience of hosting the world cup on African soil will never fade away.

We wish Belgium every success with its bid to co-host the FIFA Soccer World Cup with The Netherlands in 2018.

Once again, Mr Prime Minister, I would like to thank you and the Belgian people for its undivided support during our struggle for freedom.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Please rise and join me in a toast to the good health and prosperity to His Majesty, Albert II, King of the Belgians and to the everlasting and enduring friendship between the our two countries and our peoples.

To friendship!

Thank you.

Source: The Presidency