15 December 2011
President Jacob Zuma has called on South African and Mozambican companies to partner in investing and in sharing knowledge and expertise for the benefit of the people of both countries.
“I call upon both our private sectors to identify major investment opportunities for Mozambican companies in South Africa, share knowledge, expertise and technological know-how with each other and identify joint partnerships and joint ventures for the benefit of our people,” Zuma told the Parliament of Mozambique on Wednesday.
The President, who was on a two-day state visit to Mozambique, said today’s struggle was against poverty and underdevelopment.
“This struggle is proving to be more difficult than we thought,” Zuma said. “It requires of us to work together in the same manner we did during the fight against colonialism and apartheid.”
South Africa has emerged in recent years as the main trading partner for Mozambique and its main source of foreign direct investment. The two countries are already partnering in numerous areas, including energy, mining, agriculture and communications, and also collaborate in tackling cross-border crime, maritime piracy, human trafficking and rhino poaching.
Tackling rhino poaching
“We encourage our security agents to work together in dealing with the scourge of rhino poaching in our countries,” Zuma said. “I believe that our joint efforts in dealing with the scourge of rhino poaching will slowly but surely deliver the desired results.”
Describing Maputo as his second home, as he spent a significant number of years in exile there during apartheid, Zuma paid tribute to the people of Mozambique for the solidarity they had showed with the people of South Africa.
“The people of Mozambique faced hardships while supporting their South African brothers and sisters who were fighting the apartheid monster. They, however, soldiered on, and the people of South Africa will never forget what this country sacrificed for South Africa to be free.”
Zuma, Guebuza hold talks
On Tuesday, Zuma held talks with Mozambican President Armando Guebuza.
Briefing the media after the talks, South African International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said Zuma and Guebuza had agreed that they would use the South Africa-Mozambique Business Forum, which took place in Maputo later on Tuesday, to promote increased economic cooperation between the two countries.
Nkoana-Mashabane said an agreement confirming the establishment of a bi-national commission had also been signed during Zuma’s visit.
“This mechanism will essentially broaden the areas of focus, as opposed to the current Heads of State Economic Bilateral, which only focused on economic cooperation,” Nkoana-Mashabane said. “With the signing of this agreement, we have taken our structured bilateral cooperation to a higher level.”
Source: BuaNews
