Your Excellency, Ms Åsa Romson, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sweden
Your Excellency, Mr Anders Hagelberg, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden to Republic of South Africa
Your Excellency, Ms Faith Radebe, South Africa’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Sweden
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers present
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

I would like to thank our Swedish friends and colleagues as well as my delegation for the constructive and fruitful discussions that were conducted in the course of the 9th session of the Binational Commission.

Before we released the Committees to do their work yesterday, we had asked them to engage in constructive discussions and come with concrete areas of potential co-operation between our two countries. The reports we have received on the work of the various Committees confirm our desire to strengthen co-operation between our countries. Education and skills development remain an apex priority for South Africa.

We are therefore grateful for the offer by Sweden to extend the current full scholarship programme for post-graduate students from South Africa for at least another three years.

These programmes will allow our young people to study here in Sweden and acquire relevant skills which are essential to develop a diversified, growing economy. This is not just a welcomed critical deliverable of our solid, cooperation and partnership, but an important tangible outcome of this 9th session of the Binational Commission.

We have also signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Water Resources Management as well as a Letter of Intent on Environmental Protection and Climate Change.

These two instruments are critical in advancing co-operation, capacity building and knowledge-sharing in these important areas of our socio-economic development.  

It is through trade, investment, and economic growth that we can deliver a better life for all our people.
Our partnership should therefore lead to greater market access for South African goods into Sweden in order to address the vast trade deficit which is currently in favour of Sweden.

As I quipped yesterday, we want to sell more than wine into Sweden.
The Department of Trade and Industry has researched and identified a number of these products, and we believe Sweden will find our offerings attractive.
We also encourage Swedish companies located in South Africa to support local South African enterprises by procuring locally manufactured goods for the operation of their businesses.

Our country has prioritised infrastructure development and industrialisation as its path to economic development and inclusive growth.
During our address to the Business forum yesterday, we highlighted that we have identified the oceans economy and mineral beneficiation as part of our economic growth trajectory.

We invited Swedish companies to partner with our people to fully develop these sectors for the benefit of South Africa and Sweden.
We continue to be an important gateway to the rest of our continent, and working with us, companies from this country have a lot to benefit in a continent with a billion people living in it.

The business environment in South Africa is stable, vibrant and conducive to increased trade and investment.
The South African Government is committed to improving the investment climate and ease of doing business.

Deputy Prime Minister.
The large number of Swedish tourists that embark on a long journey to South Africa is a positive trend that results in closer people-to-people relations. We would like to see this trend continuing to grow, to the mutual benefit of our countries.
Once more, we applaud the people of Sweden for their keen interest in the development of South Africa, especially as it relates to our national developmental agenda. We will continue to work together with Sweden on the development of our continent and on resolving challenges that our continent faces.

As partners both in the bilateral context and through the AU-UN context, we have committed to work together in the promotion of peace, security, and development on the African Continent. We agreed that both countries will work jointly to strengthen inclusive and sustainable peace building by promoting cooperation among women mediation networks as well as training of female mediators. We have also underlined our mutual agreement on the importance of the reform of the UN Security Council and upholding the principles of international law based on the centrality of the UN Charter.

We must continue to consolidate our co-operation at the UN moving from the premise that multilateralism remains the only solution to current challenges facing humanity.

We need to work even closer in the fight against poverty, inequality and underdevelopment while ensuring the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

For our part, South Africa’s National Development Plan continues to form the basis of our contribution towards the attainment of the global Sustainable Development Goals as adopted at the recent UN General Assembly.
Co-Chairperson.  A number of municipalities across South Africa are engaged in useful and dynamic partnerships with local authorities here in Sweden, which further strengthens people-to-people contact at a community level.

A closer cooperation between our countries will propel the birth of the world of our dreams.
This is a vision of world that is just and equitable, a world which is a home to all, a caring world where the wellbeing of one, is the wellbeing of others.
Addressing the Swedish parliament soon after his release from prison, President Nelson Mandela said of our extensive system of cooperation: “We have become political neighbours who willingly share little bread and salt we may have. The strength this gives us is impossible to measure.”
Four years later, in his inaugural as President of our country, Nelson Mandela declared, “Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.”
This is the vision that drives this government of Nelson Mandela. It is a vision that our friend Sweden is helping us realise.

I thank you.