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Speech by Deputy Minister Aziz Pahad, Intergovernmental Seminar:
"Cooperation and Development", Tuesday, 30 January 2007 First
Lady Mrs Zanele Mbeki
Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
the Republic of Chile, organisers of this seminar,
Ambassador of the Republic
of Chile, Ambassador Claudio Herrera
Minister of Mineral and Energy of South
Africa, Ms Bulewa Sonjica
Minister of Social Development of South Africa Mr
Zola Skweyia
Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Mr Derick Hanekom
Deputy
Minister of Mining of the Republic of Chile, Ms Marisol Aravena
Deputy Minister
of Finance of Mozambique, Mr. Pedro Couto
Deputy Minister of Mining of Mozambique,
Mr. Abdulrazak Normahomed
Distinguished delegations from Angola, Mozambique,
Chile, Brazil, South Africa,
Deputy Executive Secretary of SADC, Representatives
of the World Bank and the UNDP
Members of the Diplomatic Corps In 2002,
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Anan likened our planet to "a small
boat, driven by a fierce gale through dark and unchartered waters, with more people
crowded on board, hoping desperately to survive. None of us… can afford to
ignore the condition of our fellow passengers. If they are sick, all of us risk
infection. And if they are angry, all of us can easily get hurt". In
the light of this reality, it is a particular honour and privilege to participate
in this Intergovernmental Seminar "Cooperation and Development". This
seminar is yet another message that the South is not a passive product of the
global agenda but is an important instrument to produce a developmental agenda
that is committed to fighting poverty and under-development and improving the
quality of life of all our peoples. We will discuss issues such as democracy,
good governance, human rights and human security. We must do so in the context
of the greatest challenge we face, viz, the fight against under-development and
poverty. A delegation of South African Women in Dialogue (SAWID) headed
by our First Lady Ms Zanele Mbeki, visited Chile between 19-25 September 2006
to study Chile's poverty reduction programmes and to consider their applicability
to South Africa. Some findings from this visit were that Chile was able to reduce
poverty from 45% poverty in 1987 to 18% in 2004. This seminar is an important
opportunity for us to discuss the lessons of Chile, which emerged out of the nightmare
of the murder of President Allende, "regime change" and the brutal Pinochet
military dictatorship. Today, democratic Chile has made strides in overcoming
poverty, achieving high and sustainable economic growth, and bringing benefits
to its people. These are key objectives for all of us and therefore I could not
think of a better time for us to be meeting here to exchange views and experiences,
and to ask what we need to do to better serve the people we represent. Our
exchanges should lead to the concrete identification of potential opportunities
for developmental co-operation amongst ourselves and between Africa and Latin
America. This seminar is particularly inspiring in that it includes our
Chilean, Angolan, Brazilian and Mozambique partners. We must take this opportunity
to again acknowledge the role of Angola and Mozambique in SA's democratisation
process. We must also thank the Chileans and Brazilian people for the support
given to MPLA, FRELIMO and the ANC. Together we won the battle against dictatorships,
the Portuguese colonialism and apartheid. Now we unite to fight another war, a
war against poverty and under-development. This seminar provides an opportunity
for us as developing countries of our respective regions to reflect and consider
how best to advance the interests of our countries and our peoples in the spirit
of South-south solidarity. We seek to achieve these objectives in a very
challenging environment, inter alia, (Elaborate on the above)
The time has never been more opportune
for the consolidation of co-operation on development between our two regions.
Currently, our two countries are showing impressive stability and economic growth
thereby giving content to our common objective of South-South Co-operation. We
hope that through our co-operation this positive stability and economic growth
will be consciously translated into development favourable to the ordinary masses
of our people. The challenge is to develop a strategy to position the developing
countries in a way that will ensure that we are able to make the global agenda
to be relevant to our interests. Such a strategy should be based on solidarity
and partnership of the countries of the South through integration and co-operation.
This closing of rank will result in the developing countries using our collective
strength to turn the global agenda to be favourable to our interests. As we enter
the 21st century, we see the South as being well positioned to take the lead and
ownership of this century. This potential is evidenced by the impressive growth
of emerging powers from the South, inter alia, China, India, and Brazil. Chairperson
To achieve our objectives, co-operation and development that we seek to achieve
should be based on a developmental paradigm that addresses inequalities, poverty,
under-development and marginalisation as common challenges to our countries. Therefore,
co-operation and development between us should be based on political, economic
and social solidarity which has a progressive and developmental content This
seminar should also contribute to broadening access to southern technology and
expertise through 1) sharing of practical knowledge, experiences and technology
from the South for the benefit of the South, 2) the maintenance of networking
and communications between the relevant stakeholders of Angola, Mozambique, Brazil,
Chile and South Africa and 3) enabling institutions of our countries to promote
our expertise and technology to a broader audience of the South
Indeed,
the time has never been more opportune. The consolidation of democracy in South
America and in Africa in recent years has profoundly altered the context of our
relations and created an environment for our relations to flourish. In addition,
both our continents are showing impressive economic growth and are beginning to
play a more prominent role in the global economy, thereby strengthening the prospects
of our common objective of South-South Cooperation. Some among us have made
important strides in overcoming poverty, achieving high and sustainable economic
growth, and bringing the benefits to our people. These are key objectives for
all of us, and accordingly I could not think of a better time for us to be meeting
here today to exchange views and experiences, and to ask what we need to do to
better serve the people we represent. As democratic governments, responsive
to the needs of our people, we share the same desire for a world that is more
just and equitable. Hence our mutual support for a strong multilateral system
and the much needed reform of the UN system, including the Breton Woods Institutions;
the early conclusion of the Doha Development Round of the WTO; and international
cooperation in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
Our dialogue must
deal with the major challenges to international peace and stability, the Palestinian
issue, Iraq, Afghanistan and the nuclear issue relating to Iran's nuclear programme. Chairperson - Challenges
of the African continent (Elaborate)
- NEPAD (Elaborate)
The
success of NEPAD is based n the building blocks of sub-regional integration From
a Southern African regional integration perspective, from which we have three
partners in our midst, namely Angola, Mozambique and South Africa, regionalism
is a key challenge. At the regional level, the Southern African Development Community
(SADC), as the foundation for its regional, continental and international engagements.
On the economic front, SADC Member States are implementing far-reaching economic
reforms, in pursuance of their shared vision of creating a single economic space
through deeper economic integration. Through the implementation of appropriate
macro-economic policies, some of the SADC Member-States have managed to put themselves
on a sustainable economic growth path. Members of the organisation have come to
see a need to move functional integration to embrace a developmental integration. To
this end, the region has established the following important targets: - The
formation of a Free Trade Area by 2008;
- The completion of negotiations
of the SADC Customs Union by 2010;
- The completion of negotiations of
the SADC Common Market by 2015;
- Diversification of industrial structures
and exports with more emphasis on value addition across all economic sectors by
2015;
- Sustain export growth rate of at least 5% annually;
- Increase
in intra-regional trade to at least 35% by 2008; and
- Increase in manufacturing
as a percentage of GDP to 25% by 2015.
We are all committed to democracy,
protection of human rights and good governance. This can be "force-fed"
and must take into consideration the concrete realities and the cultural environment.
In Africa we have the APRM. There are tremendous possibilities but also
many challenges. The seminar must identify how we, as SADC can further exploit
the possibilities and deal with the many challenges. In addition to Chile's
and Brazil's expertise on regional integration, it will be particularly helpful
to share your experiences of North- element in such initiatives that may have
helped trigger convergence processes and accelerated economic growth. As
we meet we know that two months ago, the first Africa/South America Summit was
held in Abuja, Nigeria. It served as a multidimensional cooperation discussion
forum whose aim was basically the broadening and strengthening modes of cooperation
between the two continental neighbours. This was a major step in the development
of South-South Cooperation, which we believe will lead to new institutional linkages,
to the benefit of both continents. We also have the SADC-Mercosur and IBSA
initiatives as foundations to build effective and mutually beneficial co-operation
between our two regions. In that context, the science and technology and
mining part of the Seminar is of fundamental importance. Such deliberations and
subsequent actions will certainly contribute to change of the nature of the relations
between our two continents, particularly in joint ventures, investment, financial
flows as well as regional, and in this context, transcontinental integration.
It will also add value in enhancing endogenous capacities as well as forging closer
links and sharing knowledge amongst Angola, Brazil, Chile, Mozambique and South
Africa in these fields.
Our economies are characterised and in some cases
dominated by mining and agriculture. We must answer the question- what must we
do to be much more than just exporters of raw materials and basic commodities.
How do we increasingly add value to our products; expand our manufacturing base;
trade in services; become investors in each others' industries; exchange technologies,
and cooperating in innovation? Chairperson Our mutual solidarity
and friendship goes back a long way. Our struggle for freedom and democracy has
largely been won. Now we are opening a new trench of struggle for international
peace and stability, the struggle against poverty, underdevelopment, global inequality
and marginalisation. In partnership we can win this battle. I am confident
that we will have a very successful seminar. A Luta Continua
Venceramos Issued
by Department of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
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January 2007 | 
