Date: 30/10/2003
Source: The Presidency
Title: J Zuma: Opening of fourth session of SA-German Binational Commission


OPENING STATEMENT BY DEPUTY PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA AT THE OPENING OF THE FOURTH SESSION OF THE SOUTH AFRICA/GERMAN BINATIONAL COMMISSION MEETING, Presidential Guest House, Pretoria, 30 October 2003

Your Excellency, Mr Vice Chancellor Joschka Fischer,
Honourable Members of the German Bundestag,
Deputy Minister Aziz Pahad,
The Director-General of Foreign Affairs, Dr Ntsaluba and your colleague Dr Stanzel,
Ambassador Peters and Ambassador Bengu,
Members of the two delegations,

It is my greatest honour to welcome you, Mr Vice Chancellor and your delegation, to South Africa and to this Fourth Session of the South Africa-German Binational Commission (BNC).

This is to us a meeting of friends and partners. Given the warm nature of our relations, we are actually welcoming you to your second home.

Some of us have already met our counterparts this morning and exchanged views on areas of mutual interest. As always, my discussion with the Vice Chancellor this morning was most enlightening. The convergence of our views on many issues indicates the excellent relations between our two countries.

Since the advent of democracy in our country in 1994, South Africa and Germany have formed a strong political, social and economic partnership that has shown considerable growth in many areas. Each time we meet, we become more convinced that our relationship will continue to grow.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are meeting just a few months before the 10th anniversary of our freedom, to be celebrated in April next year. This will be a commemoration of our victory against apartheid as well as the achievements of the past decade. Given our strong partnership, I am sure that our German friends will join us in marking this important milestone.

Mr Vice Chancellor, let me emphasise that we value the strong relations between our two countries at all levels. At an economic level, bilateral trade figures indicate a healthy year-on-year growth. Since 1994 German firms have made substantial investments into the South African economy and the Germans remain our country's very important trading partners.

We truly appreciate the presence of the approximately 450 German companies in our country, providing about 65 000 jobs. Job creation remains one of our key national priorities and one of the tools of bringing about greater social development.

At a political level, our two countries share the appreciation of the need to make the world a better and more peaceful place.

I am saying this because we are meeting during a somewhat turbulent period in international relations. The world is faced by a number of challenges, such as underdevelopment and poverty, the Middle East security crisis, HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases, terrorism and related crimes; drug trafficking and arms proliferation, to name a few.

We believe these challenges can be successfully resolved if they are tackled multilaterally. Therefore we eagerly await the Committee of Eminent Persons on the reconstruction of the United Nations instituted by Secretary-General Kofi Annan during the recent General Assembly session. The transformation of the United Nations will strengthen the international system.

Given our convergent views on the peaceful resolution of conflicts, we believe that our two countries can pool their collective resources to contribute to making the world a more peaceful place.

We are playing a modest role in the continent to further the peace objectives, in areas such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi.

We are this week hosting talks between the Transitional Government of Burundi and the CNDD-FDD movement to finalise outstanding matters in the implementation of the peace agreement they signed on 8 October 2003.

We applaud your contribution to the peace efforts in Angola, Burundi and the DRC and request your continued support.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are also heartened by the strong endorsement and support for the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) that Germany has expressed today and on several occasions before. Through NEPAD, the African Union (AU) seeks to work actively to reverse underdevelopment, and we seek the partnership of the developed world in these efforts.

There is an abundance of opportunities and mutual benefit from the implementation of NEPAD, and I am pleased that our two delegations have discussed the opportunities that exist within this programme.

At a more global level, Africa and Europe have a natural symbiotic relationship. The enlargement of the European Union (EU) will present opportunities and challenges to Africa.

The importance of continued dialogue between the EU and the AU is therefore critical, and the Troika meeting in Rome next week will be crucial.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have achieved a lot since the highly successful Third BNC in Berlin. The Fourth BNC provides an opportunity for us to take stock and further promote mutual interests in the areas of arts and culture, defence, development cooperation, environment, science and technology and trade and investment.

The Joint Committees have been working hard as usual and we must commend them for the continued positive spirit of collaboration at all levels. We expect fruitful deliberations and reports from them at this meeting.

It is now my pleasure to invite the Vice Chancellor to present his opening statement.

I thank you.

Issued by: The Presidency
30 October 2003