Notes following Briefing by Ambassador Gert Grobler on the Incoming State Visit by President Sarkozy, Union Buildings, Pretoria, Tuesday 26 February 2008

Thank you very much. It is a pleasure to brief you on the forthcoming visit by the President of France Mr Nicholas Sarkozy and Madame Sarkozy who will be arriving here on the morning of the 28th and will spend a few days in our beautiful country.

Perhaps I should say something, some general background to the visit and perhaps then say something in that context also about our bilateral relations and perhaps we can look at some of the issues that we expect that are likely to be raised during the visit between President Mbeki and President Sarkozy, and perhaps I can also look at some agreements that will be signed during the visit.

 South Africa is indeed looking forward to this visit of President Sarkozy and Madame Sarkozy. There has been regular interaction between President Mbeki and President Sarkozy. They met last year during the rugby world cup, which we won, and had an in-depth discussion about various issues, amongst others the proposed visit of President Sarkozy to South Africa.

I do not have to tell you about or dwell on the importance of France.  France is a key global player, it is a member of the UN Security Council – one of the permanent members, it is a key driver within the European Union and it is also a member of the G8, with which, as you know, South Africa and Africa engages on an ongoing basis in the interest of taking forward the Africa Agenda.

President Sarkozy took office in May 2007 and campaigned basically on the basis of making a clean break with the policies of his predecessor, President Chirac, pledging to make France more dynamic and competitive and to restore its status and credibility as a major European and international power.

And certainly in the context of international affairs President Sarkozy has left his mark in the sense that he has been very active in a Europe context and EU context where he, together with Germany as another major power within the EU, have remained at the core of policy. In fact President Sarkozy played an important role at the EU Summit in Lisbon in June last year where an agreement was reached on the simplified EU treaty, which is currently in the process of being ratified by the various EU members.

On foreign policy President Sarkozy made it very clear that he identified three global challenges for France.

The first one is to prevent an ideological confrontation with Islam and the West; to accommodate emerging powers such as China, India and Brazil; and to counter threats such as global warming, pandemics and competition for energy supplies. Those were the three broad areas that he lifted out and of course in terms specific problems and challenges he lifted out priorities for France were Iran, Iraq and Israel and Palestine, Lebanon, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Darfur.

Now on Africa, just to put the context of the interaction and engagement with France in context, President Sarkozy has over the months since he has been in power, spoken often about Africa and said that France would continue to be Africa’s most resolute advocate in Europe and major international institutions.

He said that Africa would remain a priority of France’s foreign policy and a central axis of EU’s cooperation policy, and went to great pains to say that Africa was not the sick part of today’s world as is often the perception and did not need charity but needed cooperation on equitable basis.

He also lifted out that Africa has everything necessary to succeed in the globalising world and France wanted to help the continent reach that goal. He also committed France very strongly to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and this must surely mean more aid, but also achieving better results and greater efficiency.

That was sort of the framework of President Sarkozy’s approach to Africa and it is in that context that we would like to engage France during this visit.

 As you know more recently that in Africa, and more in a Darfur context and given the regional impact of this conflict on the neighbouring Chad and the Central African Republic, that this remains a key priority to France, that France had in fact taken the lead in establishing a European force. The force for Chad/CAR provides security for civilians, refugees and displaced people in Eastern Chad and Northern Central African Republic.

 In order to ensure stability, the EU has approved a 3 700-soldier force drawn from 13 European countries with a one year mandate, and as you know those things are now work in progress.

 Just another issue that is sort of relevance to Africa, last year towards the end President Sarkozy pledged out a proposal for a new Mediterranean Union composed of European, Middle Eastern and North African states adjoining the Mediterranean Sea and subsequently invited all the leaders of these countries to attend a summit in Paris on 14 and 15 July this year – it will be more or less two weeks after France assumes its EU Presidency, which is another important development which we will have to and will take on board during our discussions.

 Just something brief about the state of our bilateral relations, I think I can say that South Africa and France enjoy cordial and close relations characterised by regular high level dialogues, diverse bilateral cooperation programmes and growing bilateral trade.

 And it is no secret that France has high regard for President Mbeki’s work on the continent and that South Africa is regarded as a capable and credible interlocutor in promoting peace, stability and development on the African continent, and these were issues that were expressed by France during the visit that the President had to Paris last year during discussions with President Sarkozy.

 As I said France is a player on the African continent – it is the largest donor and trading partner to Africa and it is an increasing major investor on the continent.

 Deputy President Mlambo-Ngcuka paid a visit to France last year, 11-15 October, where she held discussions with her counterpart and also had a discussion with President Sarkozy where a number of the issues that will be discussed during this visit were initiated and discussed.

 Just in that context, during her visit the groundwork was laid for much closer cooperation between France and South Africa in the JIPSA skills development context and the expectation is that during the visit that a formal agreement or MoU will be signed in this context, you all know the importance of skills development for the country.

 Our recent bilateral contacts after President Sarkozy assumed office have been wide-ranging, have been regular, in fact the list is almost too long to mention. Amongst others Minister Dlaminin Zuma attended that France-Africa Summit in 2007; there was a visit by the French Minister of Industry to South Africa from 19-20 February last year; and all this led to much closer cooperation – I mean there are a number of other visits in various other sectors that I could mention – I can just say that the cooperation on a bilateral level in many sectors are excellent, whether its arts and culture; science and technology; safety and security; energy and economic development, particularly also the promotion of SMMEs are in place and are picking up momentum.

Economic relations are continuously expanding. The French Minister for International Trade, who is also a member of this delegation – I will come to the delegation later, visited South Africa I think it was in November 2006 with a huge French business delegation to inaugurate South Africa-France Business Forum which provides an opportunity for South African and French business people to exchange views; to establish closer contacts and to establish joint ventures and so on, and this has resulted in a situation where is today France South Africa’s eight largest trade partner looking at total trade and it is an important investor in the country.

As far as trade is concerned, the bilateral trade totals R25 to R26 billion in 2006/07 with the trade balance heavily in France’s favour. Also South Africa we are continuing our endeavours and efforts to increase our exports and our opportunities – we are working on that.

There are approximately 160 French companies operating in South Africa and including some major French internationals – Total, Alcatel, Renault, Lafarge and many others.

As far as tourism is concerned, the tourism from France has seen a significant increase. We approximately have about 48 000 to 49 000 French visiting South Africa per annum. And as you may know Air France now has two flights a day OR Tambo to Paris – that is 14 flights a week. And my experience has been that it is difficult to get a seat on that flight.

Let me just, against this background, allude to some of the issues that we propose, we expect to be raised.

Obviously the bilateral issues, we will look at increased and enhanced bilateral political consultations between South Africa and France, given France’s role as an international player – that will, I am sure, be raised and discussed.

There is of course the further active promotion of economic ties between South Africa and France. French companies remain very keen to invest; in fact a number of key CEOs will be accompanying President Sarkozy to have an interaction with their counterparts, which I will allude to later, in order to explore further opportunities in South Africa.

I mentioned the issue of French support for ASGISA, and of course more particularly for JIPSA skills development and we have a number of programmes running through a French company Areva, training South African Engineering graduates; the Paris Chamber of Commerce has a programme which they intend to extend to South Africa; the French-South Africa Technological Institute for Electronics, based at the Tshwane University of Technology and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology are training hundreds of students over the next two years. So this is a manifestation, evidence of the growing contribution by France in the field of skills development.

Obviously as I said, the African agenda will be discussed given the role of France on the continent, that we will discuss issues like Sudan, what is happening in the DRC, taking the critical post-election process forward.

But a number of issues in terms of conflict resolution, post-elections, post-conflict reconstruction will be discussed.

Obviously also in the Africa context, we will talk about the follow-up to the Lisbon Summit, the EU-AU Summit and the outcome of that.  And as you know the issue that is topical at the moment the EPAs and how we are going to take that forward with the European Union, will be up for discussion.

 Then also as you are aware South Africa has entered into a strategic partnership with the European Union that’s the EU-South Africa and, as I said, France will be taking over the Presidency of the EU for the second part of this year.  It is envisaged that there will be the first South Africa-EU Summit in terms of the strategic partnership between the EU and South Africa that will be held on the 25th of July in France.  So obviously the preparations and the issues that we would like to take forward at that important Summit which as you know in terms of the EU-South Africa partnership not only are there economic issues, the development issues very important but the political dialogue aspect of it will create opportunities for South Africa to engage Europe on not only issues relating to Africa but there’ll be dialogue on global issues, multilateral issues and that will take place on 25 July in France.

Obviously also there are some key multilateral issues that will be discussed.  President Sarkozy is on record calling for decisive reform of the United Nations system to make it more effective to fit the new challenges and crises. He infact is in favour of the expansion of the Security Council, in both the permanent and non-permanent member categories and said he would support permanent member status for Germany, Japan, India, Brazil and an important African country.

Also in the multilateral context, you maybe aware that President Sarkozy alluded to the possibility of expanding the G8 to a G13, which means the addition of China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa.  That’s ofcourse an issue that there’s no clarity within the G8.  But obviously he may want to touch on that.

Then ofcourse there’s Kosovo, where we stand now and where we are going now with that.  I’m sure you are familiar with South Africa’s position having been briefed by my colleague Ambassador George Nene and others.

And ofcourse if there’s time, there is the issue of Iran and ofcourse the ongoing search for peace in the Middle East, and particularly Palestine and Israel.  France has a strong and vested interest in that and has also been playing an important role in the Lebanon issue.  And as you may know that after the Neapolis conference called by the US, France at the request of President Abbas hosted the international donor conference for the Palestinian state in Paris.  It was held in December and that a huge amount of US dollars was raised.  I think $7 billion was raised.  So France has been very active in that context.

Obviously Iran, France has taken a fairly strong stance on the issue.  So we will be engaging them on that.

Let me just say briefly about the programme President Sarkozy will be accompanied by Madame Sarkozy, by Madame Lagarde who is the Ministry of the Economy, Finances and Employment in France, the Secretary of State for Ecology, the Secretary of State for Cooperation and Francophone, the Secretary of State for Sport who used to be a well know rugby figure will be coming.  And then a number of other officials.  As I said also a substantive group of CEOs of key French companies.

As far as the programme is concerned, the President will arrive on Thursday morning at Cape Town International.  The first day will be devoted to the substance of the official side with the welcoming ceremony at Tynhuis, and the bilateral discussions between the President and President Sarkozy.  This will be followed by the signing and the Agreements and the press conference.  Then President Sarkozy will in the afternoon address a joint sitting of parliament and after that pay a courtesy call to Deputy President Mlambo-Ngcuka to follow up on some of the issues they covered last year.  They will then jointly visit the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.  As I mentioned there is close cooperation with France involving the Cape Peninsula University of Technology on skills development.  That evening there will be a state banquet as usual at Tynhuis.

On Friday 28 February, I mentioned the presence of the strong business delegation.  During the visit of Madame Lagarde they formed a body called South Africa-France Business Forum, working with BUSA and there will be interaction between French business and South African business with Patrice Motsepe, the President of BUSA, and Ms Anne Lauvergeon, President of Ariva will chair on the French business side, with the involvement of Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa, our Minister of Trade and Industry and the presence of the two Presidents who will participate in this event and receive feedback from the two sides on how the business ties between the countries can be further developed.

On that Friday afternoon the President will depart for Gauteng and to a part of the visit which is more private.  That will then be the sum total of the visit.

Just in summery to say that we look forward to this visit.  France is an important, valued and strategic partner of South Africa and we believe that this visit will contribute significantly to the further enhancement of the already existing good relations between the two countries.

Perhaps I can just briefly say that the intention is and depending on the outcomes of the discussions, that there will be a number of agreements that will be signed.  Some of them are work in progress.  It still depends on the outcomes of the discussions but there’s a science and cooperation agreement, proposed transport agreement and energy agreement.  The Kyoto Protocol project has an agreement on that.  As you know South Africa as well as France have emphasised the importance of climate change, and that we’ll enter into an agreement on that.  There is a tourism agreement that will most likely be signed. And then also an MOU on JIPSA which I mentioned.  Then there is also an agreement on the continental shelf and illegal fishing which is in the process of being finalised.  But those would be agreements that could be signed.

I mentioned energy here and ofcourse you are all aware that when we had serious energy problems some time ago at Koeberg that France stepped forward and made a constructive contribution in helping South Africa to address the crisis we had at the time.  I’m sure that with the current challenges we are facing we would have further discussions with the French.

Questions and Answers

Question: I’m not asking this question because I work for the Daily Sun but the private part of the visit, I understand that this will be part of the honeymoon.  Is that our understanding or are we able to say anything at all about what will happen?  And specifically the Friday, will there be no activities here in terms of the official visit?  He’s not going to have a press conference here, any courtesy call?

Answer:  On the Friday after the business interaction they will be coming to Gauteng.  There will be a meeting with Madiba which as you know Madiba passed through Paris last year and there was a meeting with President Sarkozy and expressed the wish to meet with him.  President Sarkozy expressed the wish to meet with Madiba and that will take place.  But from then there will be a private visit and this is part of the private programme for which the French embassy is responsible.  I cannot comment on that.

Question:  How long will the private visit be?  Will part of that include going to Angola?

Answer:  Being part of their private visit after the official commitments, those arrangements are all in the hands of the French embassy.  I would not like to comment. Perhaps you could ask the French embassy and see if they would like to comment. 

Question:  What is the size of the business delegation?

Answer:  It is not compared to the initial delegation of the 2006 visit which was a huge delegation.  The idea was to have a smaller but focussed interaction between BUSA and their counterpart.  The delegation is about 40.  It is all CEOs representing sectors of importance to us in terms of taking our economic relations forward.

Question:  Given the fact that the French are keen to be involved in future nuclear power stations in South Africa, have you got any comments about who in that business group might have that intention.

Answer:  Well as I’ve indicated the world is aware of the energy challenges that we face.  This is one of the strengths of the French industry.  I cannot imagine that this issue would not be raised whether it is in the context of government to government discussions and certainly also in the interactions between business. 

Question:  I think it’s quite a follow up on that one.  You mentioned a number of agreements that would be signed, science and transport, but you also mentioned energy.  Can you clarify the energy one for us please?

Answer:  Actually that agreement is still under discussion.  I’ve not seen the outcome of that.  It is an agreement that is being discussed by their department of energy with our DME.  I’ve not seen the final version of that.

Question:  Would you mind if I asked you an unrelated question.  You were in Russia last week with the Minister and there was a statement about cooperation and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. There have been some controversy about whether the Russians are going to launch or not launch Sumbandila.  Has there been any agreement towards that?

Answer:  I was called the other day by one of your fellow newspaper groups regarding an article written by a correspondent or someone representing Business Day in Russia in which a whole host of questions and insinuations are made regarding business relations between Russia and South Africa.  And I told Business Day that looking at that list of questions, allegations and insinuations that obviously it involves a number of government departments and that I would not like to comment on this at that point because it needs further consultation with these departments who are accused or allegations are made.  I said that just looking at those things, many of those allegations are totally unfounded, if not simply untrue.  The real fact is the insinuations that there are major problems between Russia and South Africa is simply also not true.  The relations between Russia and South Africa are infact very good.  I was there with the Minister on 12th and 13th of February where, in the context of the Intergovernmental Trade and Economic Commission (ITEC), we discussed various sectors of cooperation including science and technology, including trade and industry, energy, mining, the whole host as is the case with ITEC.  I can say that those discussions were amicable and constructive so much so that this process, not only in the context of trade and economic affairs but also in wider cooperation, has picked up so much momentum that we deemed it necessary to have the next round of ITEC as early as May this year, to take forward the growing cooperation and the growing trade and economic ties between Russia and South Africa.  Some of the issues that were raised in that article were up for discussion between the two governments but in a constructive and amicable spirit.  Just to add that that issue is being currently discussed on a government to government level and will be taken forward when we go back to Moscow for ITEC in May.

Issued by Department of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001

26 February 2008