Opening Remarks by Minister Ronald Lamola, during the Bilateral Meeting with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development of the United Kingdom (UK), Rt. Hon David Lammy, in Cape Town, South Africa, on 5 November 2024
5 November 2024
Foreign Secretary Lammy,
Lord Collins of Highbury,
High Commissioner Philipson,
Director-General Dangor,
Senior Officials from the British and South African Delegations,
Your Excellency, I am pleased to welcome you to South Africa, and I hope that since your arrival in my country earlier this morning, you have experienced the warmth of South African hospitality.
I would like to also welcome the rest of your delegation to the Mother City where we are meeting at a very exciting time, not only in terms of the events that will take place here in Cape Town this week, but to discuss our strategic bilateral partnership.
Foreign Secretary, at the outset, I wish to take this opportunity to reconfirm that the United Kingdom remains a key partner for South Africa. I also wish to acknowledge the close bonds of friendship and people-to-people engagements that exists between our peoples and our countries.
My country is honoured that the Prince of Wales, William, has chosen Cape Town to host the Earthshot Prize Awards Week and the Awards Ceremony which will take place tomorrow (Wednesday). The meeting this morning between President Ramaphosa and Prince William is testament to the warm and historic relationship between our two countries.
However, I believe that our bilateral relations can be significantly improved upon, and I look forward to our discussion this afternoon on how we can work together to refresh and reset this very important bilateral engagement.
Your Excellency, as you know, our trade and investment relationship has stagnated somewhat, not only because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but also because of the general state of the global economy and our various domestic challenges. The State Visit by President Ramaphosa in 2022 and the recent Working Visit by Deputy President Mashatile to the UK aimed to provide renewed impetus to our bilateral engagements. More specifically, the Deputy President’s visit was to re-build investor confidence in South Africa and increase foreign direct investment into SA.
The successful hosting of elections in both our countries earlier this year (2024) and the new mandates of both our governments creates an ideal opportunity to set the Bilateral Forum on a new course.
During our tête-á-tête and working luncheon, we discussed various important issues on the regional and international agenda and reiterates the need for us to continue working together as we seek to address some of the global challenges facing humanity.
The convening of the Forum today must result in a re-commitment to improve the workings of the Forum and chart a way forward to achieve this. It is imperative that the different Departments, who are responsible for the myriad of issues of cooperation that underpin our bilateral relationship, agree on specific ways and plans of action that will ensure the successful implementation of the various agreements as well as the key outcomes of the State Visit and Working Visit.
We have noted that unfortunately, over the past number of years that the Forum “declined” when compared to meetings past. When the Forum was first established in the 1990s, it met annually at the level of head of government, so our Deputy President met with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, which was necessary at the time.
The Forum then evolved to annual meetings at the level of Foreign Minister who were supported by numerous other Ministers and Deputy Ministers and the meetings were in-depth and lasted for two days to allow for substantive engagement and discussions. Unfortunately, over the past ten years or so, this also changed, and the meetings have become more reduced.
Therefore, South Africa’s hope is that we can decide today that we will “reset” the Forum and restore it to in-depth discussions on a wide range of issues so that the Forum will set the tone of our bilateral engagement at all levels. From our perspective, the Forum must be utilised to not only discuss the current status of issues, but also identify new areas of cooperation, discuss challenges, drive engagement, and give a mandate to its Working Groups.
This is why we have proposed, in consultation with your team, that we agree: a) that the Forum and its Working Groups be reviewed, and b) that we discuss and agree on a Memorandum of Understanding which will underpin the Bilateral Forum.
Your Excellency, I know that you will agree with me that this issue is urgent and therefore South Africa hopes that these two critical issues can be resolved by the time the Review Meeting takes place next year (2025) in London. As you know, Lord Collins of Highbury (Minister for Africa) and my colleague, Deputy Minister Botes are expected to co-chair the Review meeting.
The Bilateral Forum has a number of different Working Groups that focus on a wide range of issues. However, it is not possible today for us to discuss of all of the issues and I understand that our respective teams agreed on highlighting a select number of areas which we will now discuss.
Once again, welcome to South Africa.
I thank you.
Issued by DIRCO, 5 November 2024
