Press Comments made by South African Ambassador to European Union Dr Anil Sooklal, Media Centre, Union Buildings Pretoria, Tuesday 9 October 2007, Media Centre, Union Buildings Pretoria

Ambassador Sooklal

You are aware that for the first time the Ministerial Troika meeting will be hosted in South Africa. This is since we signed the comprehensive agreement with the European Union that came into effect in 2000. Soon after the new dispensation came into power, we began our dialogue with the European Union which led to a very prolonged series of negotiations – almost four and a half years – which eventually manifested in the Trade, Development and Co-operation Agreement (TDCA) which came into partial effect in 2000. it was fully operationalised in 2004.

Now, it was one of the first comprehensive agreements that South Africa entered into with any global partner. The TDCA is basically composed of four pillars: political dialogue, trade chapter, economic and other co-operation, and development co-operation.

It is a legally binding agreement between the EU and South Africa. In terms of the provisions of the TDCA we were supposed to conduct a mid-term review. That mid-term review is currently underway and we hope that this will be finalized at the Ministerial Troika. What it entails is to take stock of our co-operation since we began the comprehensive co-operation with the European Union and to see whether we need to revise some of the provisions within the TDCA.

Off course, the relationship has matured and as you know, earlier in the year, at the last Troika meeting that took place on 14 May 2007 in Brussels, South Africa and the EU entered into a Strategic Partnership. This Strategic Partnership is the overall political umbrella that now governs the relationship between the EU and South Africa. This partnership is known as the Mokobakoba Dialogue. This comes from our national tree and also that in the African culture, discussions are held under trees.

What it did, is to elevate the status of the relationship to a higher level politically. The EU has a Strategic Partnership with a very limited number of countries – the USA, Canada, Japan, India, China – and a Strategic Partnership with Brazil is being finalized. We are one of those few countries with this special relationship with the European Union.

Off course, one has to put into perspective the various dimensions of this co-operation.

As you know, the EU is our largest trading bloc accounting for almost R300 billion of two-way trade, almost 40% of South Africa’s foreign trade is conducted with EU member states.

In terms of development co-operation: you know they are the largest partner in terms of development co-operation. Thus far, we had an envelope of €1.5 billion from 1994 to the present time and one of the important developments that will take place during the Ministerial Troika is the finalization of the Country Strategy Paper. The Country Strategy Paper is a Paper which will deal with the period 2007 to 2013, determine the scope of development co-operation between the European Union and South Africa and the EU has given us a new allocation of €985 million over this period. This is a substantial allocation for South Africa.

In addition to this, the European Investment Bank, which has also granted us soft loans have also made an allocation of €900 billion for this period. So we have both these structures and facilities of substantial funding to assist us in terms of our own developmental agenda and economic challenges.

As far as the agreement in terms of the TDCA between South Africa and the European Union: we have met annually for the Joint Co-operation Council (JCC) followed by the Ministerial Troika meeting. The Ministerial Troika on the side of the European Union is made up of the current Presidency, the High Representative for Foreign and Security Relations Javier Solana and the President of the Council. This is the Troika on the side of the EU.

On the South African side: the delegation is led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and depending on the issues to be discussed, the Ministers accompanying her may vary.

Under the Strategic Partnership and in terms of the elevation of the status of the relationship, these meetings will now happen twice a year. So in 2007 we met in Brussels in May where the JCC and the Ministerial Troika was held. We also signed the Strategic Partnership. In keeping with all other Strategic Partnership, the EU has meetings twice a year with all other Strategic Partners. As I said, the historical significance of this is that the meetings will rotate between Brussels and South Africa. Previously, we have only met in Brussels and this has been something that has been bothering the South Africa side: when you have a partnership you should rotate meetings between the EU and South Africa. We are therefore very pleased that for the first time, the JCC and Ministerial Troika meeting will take place at the Presidential Guesthouse in Pretoria.

The EU delegation is composed of a representative from Mr Solana’s office, the Head of the Africa division; Commissioner Louis Michel from the European Commission; the Portuguese Foreign Minister Dr Amado – as you know, Portugal is the current President of the European Union; and the State Secretary in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister of Slovenia, on behalf of the future EU Presidency.

Our Minister will lead the deliberations on behalf of South Africa. She will be accompanied by several Cabinet ministers – Ministers of Trade, Home Affairs and Environmental Affairs and the Deputy Minister of Defence – will be part of the delegation.

The Joint Co-operation Council will precede the Ministerial Troika meeting. This will be led by the Director-General of Foreign Affairs Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba and the Director-General of Development Stefano Manservisi.

Now, in terms of the substance of the JCC, one of the main foci will be to look at the review of the TDCA – those four chapters. We have not included a review of the Trade Chapter because as you know, South Africa is busy negotiating together with the SADC EPA group, a new trade regime with the EU. In order to align the trade arrangement we have with the EU, together with our region, South Africa was accepted as a full member of the SADC EPA group which comprises 8 of the 14 SADC member states. Since we are integrally part of the SADC EPA group and negotiating an economic partnership agreement as it is called, we have decided to bracket the trade chapter pending the conclusion of the EPA negotiations which must be concluded by 31st December 2007 in terms of the World Trade Organisation waiver that will expire (ie. special preferences given to ACP countries at this time).

In terms of development co-operation, the co-operation has moved excellently. In fact, we have ensured we have spent almost all of the funds allocated to us by the European Union and the European Investment Bank (EIB). Now, under the new Country Strategic Paper the funding will in the form of budget support and we welcome that because it reinforces the priorities of the various departments that will benefit from this funding and it tapers with government priorities.

Now, you may ask the question: What is different with the TDCA and the Strategic Partnership? Off course, one of the main differences is the high-level political dialogue because, the EU has, with all its Strategic Partners a Summit level meeting. Now we hope that we will be able to move towards a Summit level meeting in 2008. But because this is the first meeting of the Strategic Partnership we have decided to consolidate and get the system working and then move towards a Summit in the coming year.

Within the Ministerial Troika meeting, the Political Dialogue will touch on a number of issues: as you know, the EU is a major partner for Africa in terms of peacekeeping and conflict prevention. So we will look at some of the areas where we have worked with the EU – when I say worked, I don’t mean South Africa alone but the continental institutions of the African Union – in areas like Sudan, Darfur, Somalia, Côte d’Ivoire, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.

We will also touch on the forthcoming Summit of the European Union and Africa. As you know, the first Summit was held in 2000 in Cairo. The second should have convened in 2003. Because of the EU position on the situation in Zimbabwe, the Summit did not take place. The Germans, under their Presidency during the first half of 2007 announced there would be a Summit later this year. The process is underway in terms of the substantive issues. The EU Troika and the AU Troika have held several meetings including a Ministerial meeting in May 2007 where they have adopted draft documents. There will basically be three documents emerging from this meeting: at the end of December 2005, the EU at its Council meeting in December adopted its EU Strategy for Africa. It basically is a document that elaborates on how the EU would like to operate with Africa in dealing with various issues – from the political, to peace and security, to economic regeneration, to social issues – it is quite a comprehensive agreement and as I said, it was adopted by the EU and thus far it is the EU Strategy for Africa. There have been discussions with the AU and with the Continent, including South Africa to ensure that this document has co-ownership, that it becomes the EU Africa Strategy. And that is one of the main purposes of the Summit – to see that this document is adopted as a joint EU-Africa Strategy by the Continent and by the EU.

And we hope the Summit will take place because we believe both the EU and Africa has much to gain from such an association. We have extensive interaction. The EU is still Africa’s largest trading bloc and apart from trade, the EU is also the largest partner in terms of peace and security issues and in terms of our own economic regeneration and support for NEPAD and a host of host of other issues. We believe that such a Summit can only bring benefit to both sides. The EU is very keen – the Portuguese Presidency is doing everything it can to ensure the Summit takes place.

That is one of the areas on which we will be focusing. We will also look at how we can give concrete expression to the joint action plan that we adopted in signing the Strategic Partnership. I spoke of the four chief pillars of the TDCA but there are various areas where have not fully began co-operating although we have done some work – viz. issues around the environment, climate change, co-operation in the field of culture and sport, and in various other aspects of seeing broader co-operation between the EU and South Africa, including skills development and skills enhancement within the framework of AsgiSA.

The Strategic Partnership provides for this and to show that movement has already taking place, we last week in Brussels hosted a very senior delegation from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism to start to dialogue on issues related to climate change. That meeting went very well and Minister van Schalkwyk has met Commissioner Dimas, the EU Commission responsible for environment and climate change issues. They have started a dialogue that has led to this senior officials meeting. Coming out of that meeting last week, we have agreed that an EU delegation will visit South Africa early next year to continue the dialogue for co-operation in all of these areas.

As we prepare for the World Cup, the EU, as you know, has signed an agreement with FIFA in terms of providing assistance in terms of capacity building and I am sure they would be looking at the same for South Africa.

There are various other areas in which we will be expanding the scope of co-operation.

Science and Technology is a typical area where our scope of co-operation is expanding very well. Our science and technology agreement with the EU is now 10 years old. In fact, the science and technology agreement was signed even before the TDCA was signed. This is a very mature interaction that we have with the EU.

Under what the EU calls the FB 6 Framework Programme (FB 6 that just ended last year), South Africa was the 4th ranked partner with the EU in terms of this co-operation. Ninety projects are funded out of the FB6 programme of the EU. In terms of the FB7 programme we have already made very good headway. They have a very high regard for the South African science and technology community.

Basically this is what is going to happen with the meetings tomorrow with the Joint Co-operation Council (JCC) and the Ministerial Troika which seeks to intensify the relationship and give practical expression to some of the new areas on which we seek co-operation.

Thank you

Condition of Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad (Ronnie Mamoepa)

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma is happy to announce that Deputy Minister Aziz Pahad was last night discharged and released from a Swedish hospital.

As you know, the Deputy Minister had fallen ill during a visit of the Deputy President to Sweden.

Two South African doctors, as the Minister had yesterday said, were dispatched to work in tandem with the Swedish doctors attending Deputy Minister Pahad.

The Minister has accordingly, on behalf of our government and the people, extended our gratitude to the Swedish government and the people as well as the doctors attending Deputy Minister Pahad during his illness.

Currently our Director-General Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba is busy finalising arrangements for Deputy Minister Aziz Pahad to return to South Africa accompanied by the two South African doctors.

We welcome your concerns around the Deputy Minister and we hope that you will see him very soon interacting with you.

Questions and answers

Question Ambassador, the meaning of the budget support facilitate means that the money goes directly to government, right? What is this percentage?

Answer I don’t have the figure, but I do know it is very small. I am sure that the Department of Finance can confirm this figure. I know that the total is well under 5%. This is basically budget support to the Departments.

Question Ambassador, does this then facilitate the easier flow of funds?

Answer I think why we also agreed to budget support is that firstly, it supports government priorities and in instances where there is insufficient funding to role out on those priorities this kind of support from the EU becomes very critical for us. For example, on the infrastructure roll-out plan, the EU is very keen on this – in 2007 they have focused on water - some €100 million have been contributed to this.

Question Ambassador, could you give us some idea of the state of progress in the EU-SADC EPA negotiations?

Answer As you know, the EPA negotiations – I am going to speak specifically of the SADC-EPA group of which South Africa is a part (this comprises the SACU countries, Mozambique, Angola and Tanzania) – the underlying principle of the Economic Partnership Agreement is to assist regional integration and to help us grow and develop our economies in the region to make them totally competitive. This is the primary reason the EU has formulated this.

South Africa was an observer until March 2007 to the EPA group because we had the TDCA under which we already had a trade agreement. We were an observer but in 2006 when the SADC EPA Ministers met in February in Angola they took a decision that they want South Africa to be a full member. South Africa also agreed to this proposal because we said there should be a single trade regime for the SADC region with the EU – ie. you cannot have a multi-layered trade regime in terms of what we are trying to achieve in terms of the regional integration agenda.

It was in March 2007 that the Commission responded to what was handed to them in 2006 as a framework paper which outlines the position of the SADC-EPA group and the level we aspire to in our interaction with the EU. We have had thus far three rounds of senior officials meetings and several rounds of technical experts meetings.

It is a bit complicated because as you know, in terms of the market access offer, SACU can make a single offer. But Mozambique, Angola and Tanzania belong to different custom unions and have to make individual offers. So in the region, you are going to have four different offers.

Secondly, in terms of what Commissioner Mandelsohn announced, there will by duty and quota free access into the EU market for all ACP countries except South Africa. In the entire EPA negotiations, South Africa is standing apart. The rationale of the Commission is based on the size of our economy and the competitiveness of some of our sectors. Therefore there has to be a special dispensation.

We were not happy with this because we wanted a single trade regime. But, for now, we have accepted that these aer the parameters under which we are negotiating.

We have made an offer as SACU in terms of market access and the negotiations are ongoing.

The fundamental difference and I know there has been some accusations of South Africa from the Commission that we are holding up this process and dragging our feet on the negotiations. That is totally incorrect.

The reason why we could not make a market access offer earlier is because we had to take into account the BLNS sensitivities and ensure that when me make a market access offer as SACU the sensitivities of the other SACU members are taken into account.

The EU, in their side, wants a complete EPA – by complete I mean not just an EPA dealing with trade and goods but also dealing with all the trade related issues, these new generation issues including services.

Now, in our framework document we have stated that for now we want an EPA that will focus on trade and goods and we are confident we can meet the deadline of the waiver expiry of 31st December to ensure that no-one is disadvantaged in terms of preferential treatments currently enjoyed under the Cotonou ACP countries.

The EU has insisted that we must negotiate separately on services and all new generation issues. On the side of the SADC – EPA group we are saying we are not ready for that.

Firstly, besides South Africa and perhaps one or two other countries that have a very competitive and fairly developed services sector the others don’t. If you look at some of the new generation issues like competition, government procurement, very few have a competition board in our region.

We are saying: first help us to develop our own structures, our legal framework and help us to build capacity in all of these areas. We understand the importance of all of these areas but for now, our economies are not in a position to take on commitments in these areas and this is where the current logjam is in terms of moving towards the successful conclusion of the EPA.

We will be meeting next week in Maputo for another round of senior officials meeting followed by the SADC-EPA Ministerial meeting next Friday to hopefully further advance the negotiations and try to meet the deadline if we can find compromises. Some of the SADC EPA states have indicated they are prepared to look at negotiating services, not in this round, but in future. For now South Africa has said we are only prepared to negotiate an agreement on trade and goods and I believe we are confident we can achieve this – that we have made good headway in achieving an EPA on trade and goods and looking towards a co-operative arrangement on the trade related issues that we can negotiate at a later date.

Question Ambassador, about the EU-Africa Summit – various countries have been making statements regarding whether they will attend if Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe is invited.

Answer Now one of the reasons why the Summit has not taken place thus far: we have made it very clear on the side of Africa and I think this is a common African position that if you want to have a Summit with the African continent there should be no preconditions.

That if you do not agree with the policies of any leader and/or country the best way in which to address this is in the presence of that leader and/or country. Let them be there and directly speak to the parties concerned. But don’t lay down preconditions to say that if this leader attends then the following countries are not going to attend.

And it is unfortunate that the United Kingdom has taken this position. Our position has been that if you say it is a Summit between equals – between the African continent and the European Communities - then let us meet on equal grounds and discuss all of these issues including the difficult issues in the relationship because as I indicated the general feeling from the EU membership is that this Summit must take place. Likewise, we in Africa want this Summit. We have a substantive relationship at all levels with the European Commission and I think the Summit is overdue.

But, as South Africa, we are saying that we would not allow for the EC or some member states of the EC to lay down preconditions under which this Summit will take place. I think this will be disastrous and will derail what could be a very successful Summit.

Question Where do things stand?

Answer Chancellor Merkel was in South Africa a few days ago and she made a clear pronouncement on this. We have the Portuguese foreign minister here and I’m sure this will be raised. We did raise this issue at the meeting in May this year and the Portuguese, the current Presidency of the EU, made it very clear that they want this Summit to take place. The Slovenians, as the incoming President of the EU, have stated they want the Summit to take place. We have had the Deputy Minister of Poland here making a pronouncement that Poland wants this to happen.

So I think, the ball is in the court of the EU, for them to sort out their politics because on the side of the African continent we are very eager to have this Summit but we have made it very clear we will not attend a watered down Summit. We want a Summit, as the EU has said, of equals and thus far the Summit has been postponed for several years precisely because of the politics that enters into the whole question of the Summit.

Issued by Department of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001

9 October 2007