Joint Communiqué on the Fifth Session of the German -
South African Binational Commission, Berlin, October 23 - 24, 2006
The Fifth
Session of the South Africa - Germany Binational Commission (BNC) took place at
the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, Germany on October 23-24, 2006.
The
Session was co-chaired by the German Foreign Minister, Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier
and the Foreign Minister of the Republic of South Africa, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
POLITICAL
CONSULTATIONS
During their political consultations, the Ministers concurred
that since 1994 cooperation between the two nations has developed into a broad-based
and intense partnership and that the the BNC provides an efficient and adequate
framework for further cooperations in the fields of the committees (Defence, Economy,
Development, Environment, Science & Research, Culture).
Both ministers
agreed that - based on the excellent bilateral relations - cooperation should
be further intensified, particularly in areas of regional and global interest,
including peace and security issues on the African continent and worldwide.
Among
the topics discussed were conflict resolution, peace building and other regional
developments in Africa (including DR Congo, Sudan and Zimbabwe), the upcoming
German presidency of G8 and the European Union, as well as non-profileration.
One aspect of the consultations was the cooperation in the preparation
of the Football World Cup 2010 in South Africa. The World Cup was also discussed
in the BNC committees.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
The following are
the summaries of the reports presented by the Joint Committees to the Binational
Commission:
Defence The tenth annual RSA-FRG Defence Committee
was held over the period 17 to 19 July 06. The wide range of military strategic
topics discussed at this meeting and the comprehensive cooperation programmes
agreed to for 2006 and 2007 reflect a significant growth in defence relations
between the RSA and the FRG since the last BNC. The annual Navy to Navy Staff
talks and the agreement for cooperation recently signed between the Air Forces
of the RSA and the FRG, as well as the three authorised cooperation meetings on
the A400M aircraft is further testimony to the extent of relations between the
two countries. The past year has been highlighted by numerous successful training
exchanges benefiting landward, air, maritime and medical services. The deployment
of German Navy and Air Force assets to the RSA to participate in Exercise DESEX
(GOOD HOPE II) was lauded as a major success. Due to the operational value of
this deployment, the planning for an exercise of this nature has been included
in the annual cooperation programme for 2007. For the RSA it is vital to capitalise
on the collective experience of the German Navy, making training in the maintenance
and operation of the MEKO 200 Corvettes and the Type 209 submarine. Additionally,
the joint acquisition management of the A400M programme has created new opportunities
for collaboration on the A400M programme.
Economy
The
development of the trade and economic relations between Germany and South Africa
has been very gratifying. The trade volume has risen continually; in 2005 it surpassed
the 10 billion Euro mark. The dynamism of the bilateral merchandise trade is also
mirrored by the fact that in the period January to July 2006 alone the trade volume
amounting to more than 8 billion Euro already almost reached the level of the
total turnover of 2004. The two sides agreed to further exchange data on mutual
investments in their respective countries.
During the 5th economic consultations
between South Africa and Germany it was pointed out that more long lasting economic
growth which is likely to result in further positive impact on the bilateral trade
in goods and services, could be expected in view of the promising economic developments
in both countries. The South African side welcomed the willingness shown by German
companies to make contributions by means of capital goods supplies, technical
know-how and foreign direct investments especially in projects related to meeting
the objectives of the Accelerated and Shared Growth for South Africa (ASGISA).
The envisaged economic growth, through ASGISA, would require amongst other things
a new base load and peaking power stations, additional liquid fuels refinery and
other infrastructure projects to secure energy supply. It was further acknowledged
that there are other investment and co-operation opportunities in the areas of
biofuels, wind energy, solar power and energy efficiecy intiatives. The two sides
agreed that the German experience in hosting the FIFA World Cup 2006 will be useful
for the preparations of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The South African
side offered that the Department of Trade and Industry will be the point of contact
in this regard.
Further intensification and closer links between the two
countries could be expected in the light of the good cooperative framework provided
by the BNC. The German side would welcome further improvement in the investment
environment. Nevertheless the German side indicated a survey had rated South Africa's
investment environment as favourable. In this context, the German side expressed
concerns raised by companies about the difficulties posed by the Broad Based Black
Economic Empowerment (BB-BEE) for German small and medium enterprises that may
wish to invest in South Africa and asked that the special circumstances of SME's
be taken into account when implementing BB-BEE. The South African side declared
its readiness to offer individual advice and support around the implementation
of BB-BEE. In this context the German side re-iterated its support for the political,
economic and moral imperatives of the Black Economic Empowerment policy.
The
South African side explained the efforts it was making to promote investments
and outlined the steps being taken to review the investment incentives currently
available in South Africa. Skills shortage and infrastructure limitations were
highlighted as some of the constraints that were being addressed in the efforts
to encourage and accelerate economic growth. The German side shared its views
on how the skills shortage issue could be addressed through in-plant training
and further training.
Tourism is a dynamic sector with a potential to grow
and to contribute significantly to the South African economy, especially in areas
such as job creation and poverty alleviation in the context of the 2010 Soccer
World Cup. Possible areas of cooperation are: volunteer programme, transport,
information technology, event management, language and greening.
The two
sides agreed that the suspension of the WTO negotiations was regrettable and that
this could have negative effects for the development needs of developing countries.
Germany underlined that concessions on all parts and in all areas are necessary
to revive the WTO negotiations and called upon South Africa to use its influence
in the G20 in this respect. On the other side the South Africa indicated that
leadership would be required on the part of the EU and the USA to progress the
stalled WTO talks, particularly in the area of agriculture. The South African
side explained the state of play in the SA-EU TDCA Review and the SADC-EU EPA
negotiations and expressed the hope that the EU would respond positively to the
SADC EPA framework proposal. South Africa further expressed its view that a favourable
response would provide the momentum for constructive and speedy conclusion of
the negotiations and could expedite economic integration of SADC. The two sides
agreed that the proposed EU-South Africa Strategic Partnership could also contribute
to the deepening of the bilateral economic relations and provide further impetus
for the development of the SADC region.
Development
Over
the last twelve years bilateral development cooperation has matured into a genuine
partnership with substantial results, in particular in the focal areas "Local
Governance and Development", "Good Governance" and "Skills
Development", and HIV and AIDS as the major cross-cutting issue. The Committee
welcomed the respective Progress Reports tabled. It was noted that the cooperation
is aligned with South African policies and priorities in particular the Accelerated
and Shared Growth Initiative South Africa (ASGISA) and the Joint Initiative on
Priority Skills (JIPSA).
The Committee underlined the commitment to fully
align the South Africa - Germany Bilateral Development Cooperation with the relevant
EU - South Africa Agreement, namely the TDCA and the new EU - SA Country Strategy
Paper (2007-2013) in the spirit of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.
Both
sides confirmed the centrality of good governance and the guiding principles of
the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). Considering the important
role South Africa plays in promoting governance, development and peace and security
on the Continent, the meeting agreed on the importance of piloting trilateral
cooperation programmes. Trilateral development cooperation initiatives will draw
experiences from the two countries' knowledge and expertise and their human, institutional
and financial resources, with a view to jointly assist and support third countries
or regional initiatives. A framework for implementation of such trilateral cooperation
initiatives was discussed and financial resources committed.
With a view
to the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa, both sides emphasised the
role of sports for development and agreed: to support youth development initiatives
in South Africa and other parts of the continent linked to the "streetfootballworld"
initiative; to strengthen South African Municipalities in the preparation for
the World Cup by linking them to the relevant experiences of German FIFA Cities;
to make available integrated experts with relevant experience from the World Cup
2006; to use the study and expert fund in a flexible manner.
The Commitee
noted the allocation of an additional 38.4 million euros (27.0 million Euros for
technical cooperation and 11.4 million Euros for financial cooperation) to the
cooperation programme 2006/ 07.
Environment
Climate Change:
It was agreed to intensify cooperation in the field of Climate change, in particular
the ongoing efforts in the multilateral arena, to further develop the UNFCCC and
the Kyoto Protocol for the post-2012 period, broadening and deepening contributions
by Parties to mitigation, strengthening effective climate change adaptation programmes,
and increasing climate related technology cooperation. Cooperation should also
be strengthened on the implementation of the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol, in
particular the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). It was further agreed to intensify
bilateral cooperation around Climate Change and both parties will conduct further
discussions in this regard during the UNFCCC COP 12 scheduled to take place in
November 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Energy: South-Africa and Germany are committed
to the development of renewable energy as the deployment of renewable energy technologies
contributes to sustainable development. Both countries will collaborate by means
of exchange of expert knowledge with the aim to set the right framework conditions
which will help increase the contribution from both electric renewable energy
applications and biofuels to the overall energy supply.
Air Quality Management:
South Africa is in the initial stages of implementing the Air Quality Act and
ambient air quality standard have been published for public comment. Plans are
in place to develop a national Air Quality Information System. In this regard
both parties have agreed to cooperate whereby Germany makes available its experience
and experts from the Federal Government and/or the Federal States in this field
specifically and other areas of air quality to provide technical guidance, advice
and comment in various areas of air quality management. The technical support
would largely be in the area of strategy and policy implementation.
Green
Goal TM: The two countries agree that the environmental concept Green Goal TM
, which was developed and implemented in the context of the FIFA World Cup 2006
in Germany, is suitable for limiting the environmental impacts linked to major
sporting events. They intend to co-operate on the greening of the FIFA World Cup
2010 in South Africa.
Biodiversity: The 9th Conference of the Parties of
the CBD will take place in Germany in 2008. At this time only two years are left
to demonstrate the Worlds´ achievements towards the 2010 target: A significant
reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at global, regional and national
level. On the other hand the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment has clearly demonstrated
that the current loss of biodiversity and the related changes to the natural environment
are faster than ever before in human history and that there is no sign of this
process slowing down. To reverse this trend clear progress has to be made. Thus
the challenge for COP 9 is to produce tangible and concrete results. The two countries
agreed to strengthen cooperation and work closely together to meet this challenge.
Science
& Technology
Intensive and productive cooperation has developed in
research, technology and higher education involving various actors including research
institutions, universities and industrial partners on both sides an covering areas
from basic research (e.g. astronomy, geo-sciences, marine and polar sciences)
to market oriented topics (e.g. laser application and production technologies).
On this basis important new initiatives have recently been implemented
e.g. in the field of capacity building through joint study courses. A special
project for Africa has been introduced between the Volkswagen Company and the
German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) by establishing an international chair
for automotive manufacturing at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University at
Port Elizabeth. The chair will promote study programmes of DAAD for young South
African engineers by offering one-year study and practical experience programmes
at German Universities and industries.
In light of 2007/8 being the International
Polar Year, excellent opportunities exist for initiating co-operative activities.
The inauguration of the new German Neumeyer Station neighbouring the South African
Antarctic Research Base will offer new common research opportunities.
Following
the discussions at the previous Joint Committee meeting, a number of new initiatives
have been identified for further consideration and possible elaboration. These
include: Advanced Manufacturing Technologies; Speech recognition and natural language
processing. The challenges of global climate change, loss of biodiversity, as
well as the impact of mining on the environment e.g. water are topics for the
future.
And, perhaps the most exciting visible form of cooperation: South
Africa will host the Science Tunnel Exhibition from Germany in May 2007 overlapping
with the annual Science Week.
Culture
In pursuance of the
Agreement concerning Cultural Cooperation between the Government of the Federal
Republic of Germany and the Government of the Republic of South Africa signed
on 10th March 1998, the second German-South African Cultural Consultations were
held at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin on 23 and 24 October 2006.
The
productive consultations were characterized by an atmosphere of mutual understanding
and cooperation stemming from the long tradition of intensive cultural and educational
cooperation both sides have enjoyed. The discussions provided further opportunity
to review the following areas of bilateral cultural cooperation and lay a viable
foundation for the interest-oriented and demand-based promotion of the following
areas:
cooperation on language and cultural programmes,
exchanges
in the fields of the performing arts, visual arts, film, literature and capacity
building in certain areas,
cooperation on the preservation of the cultural
heritage (archives, museums and libraries),
programmes related to the
youth,
cooperation in connection with the 2006/2010 FIFA World Cups.
OTHER
The
South African delegation invited their German counterparts to South Africa for
the next meeting of the German-South African Binational Commission.
Berlin,
October 24, 2006
Issued by Department of Foreign Affairs Private
Bag X152 Pretoria 0001
