15 May 2002
Your Highness, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani,
Distinguished delegation from the State of Qatar,
Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Madame Speaker and our parliamentary presiding officers,
The Hon Mr FW de Klerk,
Your Excellencies, the Ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps,
Esteemed guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.
It is indeed a great pleasure to welcome you, Your Highness, and your distinguished delegation. We are proud to have in our midst a great moderniser, and, above all, an insightful leader, who fully believes that the youth are the future and should therefore be nurtured and supported in all their endeavours.
We are grateful for the opportunity to return the warm reception we received in Doha last year. You have travelled a great distance to be with us in South Africa, and we thank you for the honour you bestow upon us by visiting our country. We sincerely appreciate your tireless efforts to strengthen the ties between our two peoples.
Since this is the first visit to our country by a Head of State from the Gulf, we regard this visit as unique and certainly hope that your stay in our country will be memorable. While you visit us in autumn, the season of shorter days and longer nights, you have the possibility to see the city of Cape Town still in all its splendour just before the rainy season sets in and the clouds cover the summit of Table Mountain.
I am sure you will agree, Your Highness, that as every season passes, it throws up new challenges and offers the people of the world opportunities for change, for ending conflicts and entrenching peace and stability, for the attainment of human progress and sustained development.
Yet the advancement of peace and sustainable development in the world cannot be attained through the efforts of one country alone and of necessity will only succeed through many countries working together at regional, continental and global levels to ensure that a new world free of poverty and underdevelopment emerges where all the peoples of the world can prosper.
In Africa, we face the reality of ongoing conflict in some parts, with African people experiencing widespread poverty, disease, disadvantaged by lack of development, and further impoverishment through the unequal treatment of Africa and African countries in the world economy.
Through the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), we seek to respond to the challenges we face as Africans to end poverty and underdevelopment and to address in concrete and practical ways Africa's exclusion and marginalisation from the process and benefits of globalisation. We recognise that for Africa to succeed, basic conditions need to be met such as conflict prevention and resolution, the entrenchment of democracy and codes of good political and economic governance, revitalising education and training and ensuring adequate health services.
I mention all these, Your Highness, to indicate what we, as Africans, are doing to extricate our continent from the problems it has experienced for a long time. I also mention them to indicate our readiness and keenness to co-operate with the State of Qatar and the Arab world as a whole to bring about the development that will result in a better life for both our peoples.
I am also pleased that we will continue to work together to ensure that such important international processes as the WTO negotiations and the forthcoming World Summit for Sustainable Development bring about the benefits that are due to the developing countries of the world.
Your Highness, it is also clear that the international community has to put more effort into the urgent effort to end the conflict in the Middle East. The tragedy being experienced by the people of Palestine and Israel cannot be solved through violence. Rather, the path of negotiations should be followed, with some of the necessary conditions being the withdrawal of Israel from Palestinian territories and the acceptance of the need for the formation of an independent State of Palestine.
In this regard, once more I would like to pledge our commitment to work with you, Your Highness, and all interested parties, especially the Palestinians and the Israelis, to encourage the speediest possible resolution of the intolerable conflict in the Middle East.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We have seen the steady development of relations between Qatar and South Africa since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1994 and this State Visit in particular presents us with an opportunity further to strengthen our bilateral relations.
Over the last few years, our economic relations have been growing, including a rise in investments between Qatar and South Africa. While the major commodities we have imported from your country include chemicals and plastics, we have also exported base metals, chemicals, textiles and machinery to Qatar.
A significant investment project on our part has been Sasol's US $800 million contract with Qatar Petroleum for the construction of a gas-to-liquids plant at Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar. Certainly, projects such as this one will help further to increase economic co-operation between our two countries.
The envisaged establishment of a Business Council between the Chambers of Commerce and Industry which has been proposed by Qatar and submitted to the Johannesburg Chamber for consideration is most welcome, since it will go a long way in creating the necessary conditions for a better business climate between our two countries and, by implication, stronger economic links.
Today we have further consolidated our relations and given them concrete meaning, with a Memorandum of Understanding on Co-operation concluded between our two foreign ministries.
We also look forward to the imminent opening of embassies in Pretoria and Doha and working more closely with Ambassador-designate Mr al-Fehani, whom we have already come to know and respect for his wide knowledge and extensive experience.
Clearly, for the sake of the people of Qatar, for the people of South Africa, we must further expand our relations, not only to strengthen our national economies, but also in a genuine dialogue for the creation of a better and peaceful world. Let us work together to create a season of enduring peace and prosperity for the people of our regions and of the world.
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is therefore with great pleasure that I ask you to rise and drink a toast to His Highness, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, to the friendship between our peoples and the realisation of our dream of a more caring, more humane world.
I thank you.