Remarks by Premier
Makwetla at Gala Dinner Hosted by Maputo Governor
2 October 2008
Your Excellency, the Governor of
Her Excellency, The High Commissioner of
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and gentlemen
It gives me great pleasure to be here with you today at the
occasion of the Gala Dinner hosted by our hosts,
I wish to take this opportunity to thank our hosts for all their
efforts in making this event a reality.
I wish to also thank everyone present today for their warm
spirit and belief in the exciting possibilities for future
relations between the people of our two countries, and in
particular the provinces of
We gather today at a time when the whole world holds its breath
for events unfolding in the
It is truly another sign of the growing interconnectedness of
our countries and peoples around the world that the financial
crisis in the
This being done in order to avoid, in the words of distinguished
economist and Nobel Prize Winner Joseph Stiglitz, “An
economic slowdown will exacerbate all our financial problems”.
We continue to draw hope on global efforts to spur the
Ladies and gentlemen,
The people of our two countries, and the
It is this shared history that would raise our alarm at the
prospect of failing to reach the
“The largely benign development environment that has prevailed since the early years of this decade, and that has contributed to the successes to date, is now threatened. We face a global economic slowdown and a food security crisis, both of uncertain magnitude and duration. Global warming has become more apparent. These developments will directly affect our efforts to reduce poverty; the economic slowdown will diminish the incomes of the poor; the food crisis will raise the number of hungry people in the world and push millions more into poverty; climate change will have a disproportionate impact on the poor.”
Nevertheless, he also warns and we concur, that the need to
address such emerging challenges should not distract us from the
noble effort of attaining the
The global developments that face us should awaken us to further
sharpen our resolve in our common struggle against poverty and
underdevelopment.
The new battlefield is an economic one and that is why we have
ensured that we are present today to further commit to a
partnership with the people of
The shared scars of our historic struggles of liberation must
deepen our resolve to co-operate in areas that promote trade and
investment for mutual gain and prosperity.
The
recent launch of the Southern African Development Co-operation
Free Trade Area, in August 2008, is indeed progress that we must
all endeavour to sustain.
As was noted by the SADC Chairperson at the launch, former
President Mbeki,
“We
must reaffirm the importance of regional integration for at
least two reasons. Firstly, none of us will be able to assure
political and social stability, security and economic
development in our countries if the region as a whole continues
to grapple with underdevelopment, instability, poverty and
marginalisation………
Secondly, regional economic integration can create the basis for
regional markets and industries to overcome the limits of small
national markets, to achieve economies of scale, and enhance
competitiveness as a platform to participate more effectively in
the world economy”.
As the province of
In addition to the traditional “Big Five” in Wild Life, Our
province has now established five flagship programmes of a
comparable magnitude the wild life “big five”.
Amongst these new five is the Maputo Development Corridor, A
leader amongst the pack aimed at rejuvenating the grand work of
our Former Presidents Nelson Mandela and Joachim Chissano.
We have decided as
The Flagship status accorded to this programme makes it’s the
right tool for configuring, prioritizing and promoting
inter-related infrastructure and large-scale economic sectoral
investments in both our country.
Our flagship unit in cooperation with the appropriate focal
point in this province and the rest of Mozambique has began
packaging
appropriate projects, design the appreciate systems and
conceptualized marketing and investor out-reach strategies to
ensure that in the next three years
the corridor delivers
trade and investment led economic growth;
optimize the utilisation of infrastructure; encourage
value-added processing (beneficiation); and
enhance the competitiveness of our common economy.
We have in the last four months began to give impetus to this
ideal by appointing a Chief Executive Officer to derive this
corridor to new depths and heights , we have approved in excess
of R20 million to support the programme management and
administration,
outreach and marketing , and seed capital for
some of our low-hanging projects.
In the next three years and even in the next six months we
expects and are confident that investors in both our countries
and provinces will partners with us and begin
to put money , skills and capacity on the table.
Some of our priorities in this corridor in the next 18 months
will include ensuring that there is visible and tangible
progress on the completion of the Ressano GARCIA One Stop Border
Post, We need to look into the Welfare of our heavy vehicle
drivers and provide them the appropriate refreshment stops and
services through truck stops.
The communities in Komatipoort and Ressano Garcia should begin
to fill the positive impact and to exploit the opportunities of
the Maputo Corridor through project led and anchor Local
economic Strategies and Plans.
We should also see our corridor as a channel of both marketing
and reaching out to its users through state of the art and yet
environmentally and socially responsible outdoor advertising
which generates income for small scale but high impact community
projects along our E-N4.
Our memorandum of agreement should be hinged on this corridor,
and in all our actions and decisions we should see the Maputo
Corridor as the nerves that link us together.
2010 FIFA World Cup
Significantly, the hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup by
As a Province, we are committed to working collaboratively with
soccer bodies in
Ladies and gentlemen,
As analysts at the Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies have
also noted, since the end of the colonial period, pan-African
economic integration has been a region-wide political and
economic goal. Yet the history of economic integration in
Through our activities in this part of the world we have a duty
to build an economic base that will facilitate a better life for
the people of
This is our first visit to
It
is encouraging that the majority of South Africans from all
walks of life were united in condemning and dismissing these
attacks which were viewed as acts that undermine our democratic
and human rights values as a nation. We are proud that
As government, business and civil society formations, we have
committed ourselves to ensuring that these criminal acts
masquerading as xenophobic attacks are put to a stop. Government
continues to create an environment free from intimidation and
violence against foreign nationals. We are continuing to educate
and raise awareness among our communities about continental
social cohesion, unity, tolerance and the importance of living
together peacefully as fellow Africans so that we collectively
advance
As
Once again I wish to thank you for the opportunity to make these
short remarks and look forward to a successful visit that will
grow our cooperation as we seek to improve the lives of our
people.
I thank you
Issued by: Office of the Premier,