N Dlamini Zuma and L Morales: South Africa-Cuba plenary closing

9 November 2007

Remarks by Minister Martha Lomas Morales

Thank you very much. I would like to say we have concluded this working
session of both our countries and we have been able to detail the agreement on
the precisions of our technicians during these working days of our experts.

I would like to thank, on behalf of myself and my delegation, all of the
excellent working conditions and hospitality with which South Africa has
received us. We would like to thank you for your gestures of friendship during
these days, not just the material conditions but the friendship, warmth and
common understanding between our two delegations.

With the closing of this commission we have to see a new era of work and
co-operation between our two countries. We have had five sessions and we can
say that we today have sectors where there has been sustained work that we must
continue to strengthen.

But we are in a new stage of co-operation as Minister Dlamini Zuma has said
where we have to increase our trade and economic relations and also diversify
our work in other spheres in which we have not yet worked. We have adopted all
the necessary decisions, we have identified our interests and now, as the
ambassador has said, we need to express each of the agreements and memorandum
that we have signed in concrete programmes where we will be able to evaluate
our work and co-operation.

Once again, thank you to you all.

We await you in Cuba in 2009 for the sixth session of the Joint Bilateral
Commission (JBC).

Thank you very much.

Remarks by Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma

Thank you very much.

As Minister has said, we have concluded the fifth session of the South
Africa – Cuba JBC. Our officials and experts began working four days ago and
have been working to conclude this work. So we now have a very clear roadmap in
terms of our work which should guide us for the next two years until as the
Minister has said, we get to Havana in 2009.

We are also happy that the depth and breadth of this joint commission has
been increasing but off course, most of the work of a JBC happens between
sessions of the JBC. The commissions merely indicate what work needs to be done
and the work begins to implement what has been agreed upon. So we hope there
will be a lot of shuttling between capitals with a view to concretising and
implementing the work we mapped out for ourselves.

I would like to thank all of you, the Cuban and South African delegations
for your hard work and wish the Cuban delegation a happy journey home. We hope
to see some of you during the Diaspora Conference to be hosted next week. This
is a temporary goodbye.

I would like to thank our ambassadors, even though the Cuban ambassador is
not here, she has been doing a lot of work between JBCs, the South African
ambassador and our missions in Cuba and Pretoria.

I wish you all the best.

Thank you.

Questions and answers:

Question: Minister Dlamini Zuma, could you please provide more information
on the clear roadmap that has been outlined? Could Minister Morales comment on
her statement regarding the new stage of co-operation between both
countries?

Answer: (Minister Dlamini Zuma) I am sure you will receive a more detailed
report but if I start with trade: we have identified this as a challenge and we
have agreed that we are going to establish a task team of officials from both
countries to really pay more attention to this area to see how we can turn this
around and improve the trade and economic co-operation between our two
countries. So this has been identified as a big challenge although not an
insurmountable one.

There are other areas that have been working very well because health
co-operation has been very stable, both with Cuban doctors in South Africa and
with South Africa training some of our students in Cuba, the Cuban government
providing 60 scholarships for those students.

There has also been ongoing co-operation in terms of lecturers lecturing at
the Walter Sisulu University who reside in South Africa for three years at a
time. This has been there for a long time.

We also have good co-operation in science and technology and social welfare.
We have got very good programmes in housing, water, public works. We have got a
programme that we will be working on in the field of minerals and energy. Of
course, we also have to work on communication.

So there is a whole range on justice, etc. There is a whole battery of
co-operation projects.

As you know, Cuba is very well known, not only for its health services but
education and skills development so we have co-operation in the education
sector. There is co-operation in mathematics and science and we are now looking
at a programme on literacy development.

Cuba is a very active sporting country, as is South Africa. They also have
very good training facilities. So there is a whole range of co-operation that
is underway and I am sure you will receive a full report. I am just providing
the highlights.

We have a lot to work on in the coming two years. I will however be the
first to admit that our trade relations are a big challenge.

(Minister Lomas Morales) I believe that the Minister has clearly articulated
where the challenges remain. I was saying that there is a new era because as
you know, we signed the JBC in 2001. We have since begun a programme of
co-operation between our two countries in order to define our relations.

As the Minister has said, we have a few sectors where the work has been
established, consolidated and we will continue to do new things. One of the few
sectors we began co-operating in was in the health sector. There is a group of
doctors who have been in South Africa for more than 10 years and today we see
new areas in the health co-operation, not only what exists but new things which
will be a further step in what we are doing.

We can also say the same for other sectors mentioned by the Minister: the
preparation of human resources that was one of the main programmes from the
first years of our co-operation. A total of 347 professionals have graduated in
the teaching sector and today we have been able to grant 60 scholarships for
the health sector, viz. the study of medicine.

All of this is important but we have developed further steps: we know each
other well and the needs of each other, how we can assist you in several
sectors and we believe, as the Minister has said, that trade is a major
challenge. We have various ways of addressing this on the basis of new steps in
trade. We will be able to create joint ventures amongst our countries that will
be able to strengthen all this co-operation that has been developed up to
now.

We are currently concluding the fifth session of the JBC and we believe that
in the 6th session we will be able to deliver even better reports than in this
session.

Since we began in 2001, we have advanced enormously in terms of
co-operation. There are now 17 sectors in which we have co-operation
projects.

Question: Could both Ministers provide more information in terms of the
challenges to trade and economic relations?

Answer: (Minister Dlamini Zuma). Well firstly, trade and economic relations
between both countries is almost non-existent. This is a glaring challenge. So
that is the challenge. But off course, there are objective and subjective
reasons why this is so and we have to try and overcome these.

Cuba for instance is a long distance away from South Africa and is not a
traditional trading partner, for obvious reasons. So it is a partnership we
have to build. We have to look at how to get around some of the difficulties
that we have identified. So, it is something we are working on and we have set
ourselves goals that will see us turning this around. So we have to start. So
this why we have established a special task team to look at the obstacles and
how we can get around these obstacles. This will be achieved tomorrow but we
are serious about working on it.

(Ambassador Mtinso) Minister, I wanted to add a small but significant
detail: one of the other challenges to this economic relationship is the fact
that business is in the hands of the private sector and government has limited
influence over this.

Cuba is under what is termed a "blockade" imposed by the United States of
America for more than 45 years. One of the elements of this is that when a
business enterprise wants to enter into relations with Cuba, they have to
ascertain the response of the Americans because if that enterprise has any
business with America it will suffer from the blockade itself.

The other element is that if you trade, e.g., in minerals and you look at
nickel, Cuba has some of the largest nickel deposits, but if you want to trade
or invest in nickel in Cuba, you will have to assess the market in which you
will sell your nickel because if any of the products have more than 10 percent
of Cuban nickel in the final product, you will not be able to sell that product
in any of the markets associated with America, not only will you be restricted
from selling your products in America but in any market in which American
companies are based.

If businesses want to realise a profit as would be their objective then they
would have to weigh the advantages of trading with Cuba. They will have to
assess the effect on their profit margins, even those South African
companies.

(Minister Dlamini Zuma) This may be why we are looking at a different type
of trade relationship with Cuba, perhaps the State will become more involved in
terms of what can be traded between the two countries.

I do not think it would work, as the ambassador has said, if it is just left
to the private sector. The State has to be a bit more involved in navigating
these difficulties.

(Minister Morales) I would like to add, because the Minister and the
ambassador have explained very well the difficulties that exist, that when you
have the will as does exist between both governments, we will be able to
overcome these difficulties. We will have to see how we can do it.

We have identified some products. We have those in the pharmaceutical and
biotechnological industry that have been available in small quantities in South
Africa for some time. These are good products that we can use as a basis for
continuing trade.

There are also some South African products that can be traded in Cuba but we
will have to evaluate how the blockade affects this.

But do not be afraid, we have had about 50 years of the blockade and while
more effort is required it is possible to overcome such circumstances. We have
found a total will amongst the South African authorities to overcome this
situation.

Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
9 November 2007

Nkosi