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Date
: 07/06/2005
Source: Department of Foreign Affairs
Title: Mbeki: State Banquet, Chile
Reply by the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki,
to the toast remarks by His Excellency the President of Chile,
President Ricardo Lagos Escobar, on the occasion of the State
Banquet, at the Palacio de la Moneda, Santiago, Chile
Your Excellency, President Ricardo Lagos,
First Lady, Luisa Duran de Lagos,
Honourable Ministers,
Your Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen:
My wife, my entire delegation and I, are delighted to have been
invited to Chile when you are so proudly and fearlessly writing new
pages in the history of your journey along the challenging road of
democracy, freedom and development.
Your Excellency, we thank you for your gracious hospitality. I am
very pleased to convey the warmest greetings of the Government and
people of the Republic of South Africa to Your Excellencies, the
Government and people of Chile.
The Palacio de la Moneda was the symbol of triumph in 1970, of
tragedy and murder in 1973, and yet victory once again in the 21st
century. Here, we cannot but humbly salute the memory of one of
Chile’s greatest sons, Salvador Allende. We too in our quest
for freedom were to find as much inspiration in what he stood for
as did all freedom loving people of the world. The world must never
be allowed to forget the heroic and tragic circumstances of his
life and death.
We are here also to thank you Mr. President and the people of Chile
for your steadfast and unwavering solidarity with the masses of the
people of South Africa, which enabled us to gain our freedom from
apartheid, colonialism, oppression and racial subjugation. Indeed,
we thank Chileans for inspiring us to heal the trauma of our own
past with the idea of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In
this, you were our lodestar. Your experiences emboldened us, in
securing victory against huge odds, to seek not only truth about an
evil past but reconciliation for a common future for all our
people.
Senora de Lagos, may I congratulate you on your recent appointment
as an ambassador to the Hans Christian Andersen Bicentenary
celebrations, which brings full circle the anniversaries of two
literary icons, Pablo Neruda in 2004 and Hans Christian Andersen in
2005. How appropriate this step is! It is indeed a fitting tribute
to Chilean women who too, have fought tirelessly for human rights,
dignity and freedom. Your Excellency, may I also offer our sincere
condolences on the passing away of your mother, Emma Escovar
Morales, who died in April at the grand old age of 108. We convey
too our sympathies to the families of all the courageous soldiers
who perished tragically on the Andes a few weeks ago.
Your Excellency, we are here to pay homage to you in the twilight
year of your Presidency. You have witnessed and steered, most
admirably, the re-birth of your beloved Chile, just as we too our
own South Africa, imbued with a shared vision to eradicate poverty
and underdevelopment.
Today, fittingly in this new millennium of hope, we meet here in
this majestic building, once the House of Money – The Mint. I
am very pleased indeed that we have a business delegation from
South Africa on this visit. I am sure that they and their
counterparts from Chile will find even more innovative ways to
strengthen further the warm economic relationships existing between
our two countries.
These essentially private initiatives will also create investment
and economic opportunities which will be of mutual benefit to the
masses of the people of Chile and South Africa.
Such initiatives should be given impetus by the fact that
currently, shared pursuits such as in mining, tourism, fishing,
retail and agricultural trade have indeed grown since 1994. We
trust that our on-going bilateral efforts will strengthen the bond
between our countries, perhaps even stronger than the South African
steel used in the construction of the tunnels and bridges on your
Trans Santiago state highways.
After all, it was you, Your Excellency who on 26 May 2005, prior to
the signing of the Trans-Pacific Economic Agreement,
proclaimed:
“In these first years of the twenty-first century,
neighbouring countries have learned to see each other in terms of
an increasingly globalised and interdependent world, in which the
Pacific Ocean ends up forming a bridge linking two shores."
Indeed our bonds are eternal and closer than we think. Your shores
on the Pacific belie the fact that Chile, the southern most country
in the world, is actually our next door neighbour. Yet, even with
your lowest latitude at 55 degrees, and ours at 35 degrees, the
vast Atlantic Ocean waves link our two countries from the Cape
Agulhas and our magnificent vineyards to the Cape Horn and the
Casablanca Valley vines, glistening in the dusky twilight en route
to the revered Isla Negra, the resting place of Pablo Neruda.
The ocean has served humanity since time immemorial and is, as
Neruda says in his prose poem, The Key, a metaphor for
humanity’s evolution. As our lives ebb and flow, we know in
our hearts the tide is truly turning for both Chile and South
Africa.
The ocean waves have brought the keys to both our nations, the keys
to our liberation, the keys to our neighbourly cooperation and
partnership and the keys to make our nations and our continents
truly peaceful and prosperous.
Your Excellency, let us not forget too the golden
“keys”, the “golden mask” of and indeed,
the golden bridge over the vast Atlantic Ocean. Together, we can
move forward in transforming the global village in the spirit of
human solidarity and sustainable development.
In October, South Africans will await with great anticipation your
arrival in our beautiful land and indeed, your wisdom at the
Progressive Governance Summit so that we may all jointly redefine
the true meaning of freedom, human dignity and democracy.
Once more thank you very much for your hospitality.
Ladies and gentlemen:
Please rise and join me in a toast to the good health and
prosperity of their Excellencies, President Ricardo Lagos and
Senora de Lagos, and to the eternal bond of friendship between the
wonderful people of Chile and South Africa. To good friendship!
Salud! Cheers!
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
7 June 2005
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