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Remarks of President Mbeki on
the Occasion of the State Banquet in Honour of
President Ciampi of Italy, 15 March 2002
We are honoured,
Mr. President, that you and Mrs Ciampi accepted our invitation to pay
a State Visit to South Africa. Since this is the first ever visit of an
Italian Head of State to South African soil, we are especially pleased
to have you with us as our guests.
We welcome you to the southernmost part of Africa.
We trust that during your short stay you will experience the warmth and
resilience of our people who have fought so hard to be free and who now
are working even harder to make this country a winning nation.
As South Africans who are engaged in what we call with
pride our African renaissance, we cannot but admire and draw strength
from the history of your country and the revolutionary changes that came
about as part of and as result of what we now call the Italian renaissance.
The South African people spent the greater part of
the last century fighting against colonialism and apartheid, believing
in the correctness of human dignity and equality for all the people of
South Africa and an end to racism in the world. The outcome of that struggle,
in which the Italian people participated vigorously, was the freedom of
all our people, both black and white. This has placed our country in a
position to make its own contribution towards renewal and progress in
Africa as a whole.
It is in this context of the common success in South
Africa and the aspirations of all of Africa's people that we feel so inspired
that you come here as a brother and friend to us all. Like you, Mr President,
our own actions are informed by our consciousness of the importance of
solidarity, of the necessity of constructive engagement between North
and South.
In this context, we are deeply appreciative of the
critical the role that Italy has played and will continue to play for
the betterment of Africa and the world.
Mr. President,
I vividly recall my visit to Rome last year
and the most fruitful discussions we had on the eve of the G8 Summit in
Genoa which Italy chaired. In many ways Genoa was a starting point for
a new relationship between Africa and the industrialised North that would
continue to be strengthened and enhanced later in Brussels, New York and
Paris, and would result in a universal acceptance of the challenges and
opportunities presented by the New Partnership for Africa's people (NEPAD).
Certainly, we must thank you, Mr. President, the Government
and people of Italy for your support in this regard. With partners such
as yourselves, with the government and people of Italy on our side, we
cannot but succeed in our endeavours.
We are pleased that Italy is among our top ten trade
and investment partners and that in recent years there has been a steady
growth in our bilateral economic relations.
In the development of our economy, we believe that
we have much to learn from you. Among other things, the significant role
of small and medium sized enterprises (SMMES) in the success of the Italian
economy offers important lessons for us.
We have benefited immensely from development co-operation
between our two countries especially in the development of SMME's and
are grateful for the substantial donation by the Italian government for
higher education in South Africa during June 2001.
In the fields of science and technology we have also
made great strides in our relations. Following the highly successful 1st
Joint Commission on Science and Technology between South Africa and Italy
and the various joint projects that were initiated, the stage is now set
for us to deepen our co-operation in these important areas.
We do not forget that while we meet here, the science
and technology seminar with Italian and South African participants that
is also taking place here in Cape Town also serves to bring us closer
to one another in scientific co-operation
The cultural agreement, which was signed earlier today,
will further strengthen our cultural ties and encourage creative exchanges
in the fields of arts, culture, education and sport.
Our country has a vibrant Italian community whose economic
contribution in the motor industry, in engineering, as highly skilled
artisans, shopkeepers, farmers, among others, continues to be important
for the welfare and prosperity of this new nation.
I am reminded too that one of the largest Allied Prisoner-of-War
Camps of the Second World War was located at Zonderwater outside Pretoria,
which accommodated close to 100 000 people. During these times of hardship
and suffering, the Italian prisoners completed many projects and after
the war repatriation commenced, about 800 Italian prisoners were allowed
to stay and almost 20 000 ex-prisoners returned within a few years.
The Zonderwater experience is an example of how suffering
can also give birth to a new struggle for unity, for a people striving
for a common humanity, and for a desire to be at one with the land and
people that once imprisoned them.
In many ways, the experience of black South Africans
has been one of imprisonment in the land of their birth and the struggle
for freedom was for a wholly new relationship between different people
and between nations. We will not forget the contribution of your country
to our liberation struggle, and especially the outstanding assistance
and people of Regio Emboli to our movement.
In the wake of globalisation and the rapid changes
in the world economy, I believe, that we have no choice but to embark
on a new way forward, on a wholly new relationship between peoples, countries
and continents, so as to end world poverty, and for the sake of world
peace and prosperity.
In this regard, we are very pleased to have Italy as
a partner in the implementation of the bilateral agreement between our
country and the European Union. We also look forward to our co-operation
during the WTO trade negotiations, as defined by the Doha decisions. We
also look forward to working together with you at both the important Financing
for Development Conference in Mexico next week and the critically important
Johannesburg World Summit for Sustainable Development later this year.
In the aftermath of the heinous terrorist attack in
New York and Washington on September 11 last year, the world community
is faced with the urgent necessity to join hands in the struggle against
terrorism.
The nations of the world need to establish a new relationship
among themselves, one that must be characterised by the narrowing of the
distances that divide us. As part of this historic process, we recognise
the short stretch of seawater between Africa and Europe, as a meeting
place in which together we can think, dream and act out a new reality,
embarking on a new journey for the peoples of Italy, of South Africa,
and the world.
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