Media remarks by President Cyril Ramaphosa during State Visit to the United Republic of Tanzania
His Excellency President Magufuli,
Honourable Ministers from our respective countries,
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
Members of the Media,
Let me take this opportunity to thank President Magufuli for inviting me and my delegation to visit the United Republic of Tanzania, our home away from home.
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for the warm reception given to me and my delegation since we arrived here in Tanzania.
We have concluded successful bilateral discussions.
Our visit to Tanzania is an expression of the strength and depth of the bilateral relations between our two countries.
As South Africa, we value our historical, political, economic and cultural links and ties with Tanzania, and are pleased that these relations continue are poised to grow even stronger.
During our discussions with President Magufuli, we had the opportunity to deliberate on various issues of mutual interest and concern.
We expressed satisfaction at the strong bilateral relations between our two countries, which are informed by our historical ties, and we further agreed that much more could still be done to deepen and expand these relations.
We affirmed our commitment to the speedy implementation of the various sectoral agreements signed between our governments to advance people-to-people relations, trade, investment, infrastructure development and energy cooperation.
We will encourage our respective business communities when we meet them later this afternoon to take full use of existing opportunities to increase trade and investment initiatives.
South Africa and Tanzania offer excellent business opportunities to investors and we will continue to explore possible areas for cooperation.
The opportunities are plentiful here in Tanzania and President Magufuli is inviting South African business with open arms and to come and invest here in Tanzania.
He also appreciated that there are 208 South African businesses operating here and that 21 000 people are employed through such investments.
We appreciate this and he has asked us to invite more businesses to come and invest here, as Tanzania continues to create a conducive environment to operate in this market that is creating lots of jobs.
We also expressed a deep wish that we would like to see Tanzanian businesses investing in South Africa. We also wanted to extend a number of products that we can buy from Tanzania.
We congratulate Tanzania on a bountiful harvest in the past few years and look forward to enhance trade in agriculture, appreciating the great fortune Tanzania has had.
We exchanged views on political, security and economic developments in the region, and reaffirmed our shared commitment to work together in pursuit of sustainable peace, security and stability.
In this regard, I am particularly looking forward to the SADC Summit to be held here in Tanzania over the next few days under the capable leadership of His Excellency President Magufuli.
We said that we will be supporting him as he takes over the Chairship of SADC and leading our region to further political stability and economic integration. We are prepared to work with him and Tanzania to ensure that the Chairship of Tanzania yields the type of results that Tanzania would want to see.
Regarding our Continent, we noted with satisfaction the recent launch of the operational phase of the African Continental Free Trade Area at the AU Summit held in Niger in July 2019.
We reaffirmed our commitment to the African Union Agenda 2063.
We believe that the flagship projects emanating from there will enhance our Continent’s ability to compete in the global sphere.
We further reaffirmed our commitment to the UN Agenda 2030 and reiterated our common view on the need to reform the United Nations Security Council.
We have also agreed to continue sharing perspectives on multilateral matters, such as global peace and stability.
President Magufuli has also shared with me his country's desire for KiSwahili to be recognised as one of the official languages of communication of the SADC. I agree and have pledged my support to a pilot project in this regard.
In conclusion, I would like to once again express my sincere gratitude to His Excellency President Magufuli for inviting me to this beautiful country.
I am also delighted that he has accepted my invitation to visit South Africa at a mutually agreed date.
I thank you.
