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Deputy Minister Pahad departs from Qatar ahead of Official Visit
to Iran Doha - South African Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad today Tuesday
6 March 2007 concludes his official visit to Doha, Qatar where he held discussions
with the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Hamad
Bin Jassim Bin Jabor Al Thani and the Assistant Minister for Follow Up Affairs
Mohammed Al Rumaihi. The First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign
Affairs Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabor Al Thani agreed to visit South Africa,
accompanied by a Qatari business delegation, at the earliest mutually convenient
date with a view to investigating further areas of co-operation between both countries. Some
of the co-operation projects already underway between both countries are: - The
Sasol-Qatar Petroleum joint venture to construct a gas-to-liquid facility at Ras
Lafan worth US$900mn. The plant was inaugurated on 6 June 2006 by Minister of
Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica.
- Qatar hosted the Asian Games in
December 2006 and several South African construction companies have benefited
from infrastructure projects related to the Games. Foremost among these is Murray
& Roberts, which finished construction of the multipurpose Khalifa Stadium
in Doha in June 2005. Genrec of South Africa was awarded a R200mn contract to
supply all the structural steel for this project. Future infrastructure and development
projects in Qatar over the next few years are likely to be substantial. These
include new oil and gas facilities, ports, an airport, several new roads, hotels,
museums and residential compounds, all offering opportunities for South Africa.
As
non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, both South Africa
and Qatar discussed forthcoming issues on the agenda of the Security Council with
a view to consolidating positions to support the developmental agenda of the South. In
this context, Deputy Minister Pahad briefed the Qatari delegation regarding developments
in the African Union and the importance of Qatari co-operation with Africa for
the implementation of NEPAD. Accordingly Deputy Minister Pahad also briefed
the Qatari delegation of the implementation of South Africa's Accelerated and
Shared Growth initiative (AsgiSA) and Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition
(JIPSA) headed by Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. Deputy Minister
Pahad also discussed African peace and security issues including Somalia, Sudan,
the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi. The Qatari government pledged its
continuous support to assist with conflict resolution, peacekeeping and post conflict
reconstruction initiatives. Both sides also agreed to investigate trilateral co-operation
projects in order to support peacekeeping and post-conflict resolution in Africa. Regarding
the Israeli-Palestinian question, the South African delegation welcomed the recently
concluded Mecca Agreement signed by the Palestinian government and Hamas on 9
February 2007. Both sides also reiterated calls for the establishment of an independent
state of Palestine based on 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital. Both sides
called on the governments of Israel and Palestine to remain committed to this
goal and enter into final status negotiations. The delegations also called for
an end to sanctions against the Palestinian government and for discussions with
the newly formed Palestinian government to commence without pre-conditions. Both
sides also discussed the Iranian nuclear situation. As non-permanent members of
the Security Council, both Qatar and South Africa agreed to remain engaged with
Iran and other international roleplayers in order to facilitate a negotiated diplomatic
solution to the situation. Deputy Minister Pahad is scheduled to depart
from Qatar today Tuesday 6 March 2007 ahead of the 7th Council of Ministers Meeting
of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Co-operation (IOR-ARC) in Tehran,
Iran. Issued by Ronnie Mamoepa on 082 990 4853 Department of Foreign
Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001 6 March 2007
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