Address
to Canada/South Africa Chamber of Business
Notes for an address
by Hon. David Kilgour, Secretary of State
(Latin America and Africa)
to the Canada/South Africa Chamber of Business
Johannesburg, South Africa, April 14, 1998
Ladies and
gentlemen,
Thank you
to the Canada/South Africa Chamber of Business
and the Canadian High Commission for hosting
this luncheon. In particular thanks to Chamber
President John Turpin for his continued
leadership in the chamber and his valuable
support of Canada in South Africa.
I do realize
that the Easter holiday is not officially
over and I thank you for all for taking
the time to come to this luncheon today.
At least today there is no match in the
triangular cricket series; we Canadians
do not play too much cricket so I can declare
my undivided support for the South African
team.
This is my
first visit to South Africa, but I have
already in meetings had a taste of the complexity
of the economic, political and social issues
facing your country. I should add, however,
that my colleague, Dr. Jean Augustine, was
a member of the Canadian Bilateral observer
team during your historic elections in 1994,
and talking to her and others has given
me a sense of enormous change that has occurred
here over the past decade. Your democratic
rebirth is, of course, terribly important
to both Canadians and the world.
As Canadian
Secretary of State for Africa, I am delighted
that South Africa is now seen as a country
with the human resources to guide and stimulate
a strong economic performance, and to exercise
a leadership role within the region and
throughout Africa. Canadians have been involved
for a long time in Southern Africa, and
we are proud of our role in the fight against
apartheid. The basis of our relationship
is now changing and maturing.
A high point
of our new relationship will come later
this year when we hope to welcome President
Mandela to Canada. Your president happens
to be a hero of mine and I wish everyone
on the planet could read Long Walk to Freedom.
Your minister of Trade and Industry Alec
Erwin is also planning to visit Canada this
year with a large trade delegation.
Africa's
emergence as a stable, prosperous continent
is important. I have just completed the
West African leg of my trade and investment
mission to five countries in total (Ivory
Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Togo and Mali), surely
a record of some kind given the airline
connections and the time available.
In South
Africa, anyone can see the win-win benefits
from our relationship. For example, South
African exports to Canada had more than
tripled since 1993, with an all-time high
in 1997, when bilateral trade exceeded $850
million. This is well over 2.5 billion rands
and the balance is well in South Africa's
favour. As such, Canada is one of South
Africa's fastest growing markets.
Similarly,
in terms of a market for Canadian exports,
South Africa ranks in importance alongside
India and Chile.
Canadian
investment in South Africa is also dramatically
on the rise and has now surpassed Canadian
investment in each of these countries: South
Korea, Malaysia, Portugal and Greece. We
now have over 75 joint ventures involving
Canadian companies in South Africa. The
rest of Africa also benefits from Canadian
direct investment. In the mining sector,
for example, your rand merchant bank estimates
that over 50% of new mining ventures in
all of Africa have Canadian financial participation.
Some other
examples:
- SAA Express
flies Canadian regional jets,
-
Helicopters manufactured by Bell Textron
in Montreal are used by South African mining
and transport companies - incidentally,
Bell's Rotary Aircraft have been short-listed
by the South African National Defence Forces
as part of their re-equipment program,
-
Canadian telecommunications firms are supplying
Telkom,
-
A "911" emergency response system
has recently been supplied to Western Cape,
Canadian engineering services are being
used in all industrial sectors, and
Canadian banks are taking equity participations
in some of your financial institutions.
In short, Canadians are betting on the much
discussed "African Renaissance"
and South Africa is clearly our key partner.
Through our
development assistance programme, we are
supporting the process of transformation
as South Africans move from the artificial
structures of the apartheid era to a system
responsive to the needs of South Africans
generally. These new systems should help
you to play an important leadership role
regionally and across the continent.
Currently,
we are working with you in four priority
areas: governance, human resources development,
economic development and support to the
organizations of civil society. This support,
which is now about 60 million rand annually,
covers a spectrum of activities ranging
from training magistrates, to assisting
with telecommunications and mining policy
reform, to developing the skills of new
young black business executives, both men
and women. In fact, later today an innovative
programme, called the JET (Junior Executive
Training) programme will be launched. This
initiative will give young black executives
the opportunity to broaden their experience
by undertaking a work period with cooperating
firms in Canada.
If you allow
me, I'd like to say few words about Canada's
political agenda in Africa.
Our partnership
with your continent is built on a 40-year
record of generous development cooperation,
our shared colonial past, and our common
membership in both the Commonwealth and
La Francophonie.
In an increasingly
shrinking world, Canadians see Africans
as important partners in achieving genuine
peace and security. South Africa, in particular,
is playing a significant role across the
continent and world wide in promoting initiatives
which will address regional problems.
I'd like
to pay particular tribute to South Africa's
role in mobilizing support for the campaign
for a global ban on anti-personnel landmines,
which culminated with the signing of a major
convention in Ottawa last December. Almost
one-third of the 123 signatory states were
from Africa, and South Africa, together
with Canada and Norway, shared the honour
of being the first signatories.
When I was
in Mali on April 11, their visionary President
Konare gave me a copy of the treaty his
government and assembly had just ratified.
I believe this is the first to be ratified
in Africa and one of the first world wide.
Southern
African peoples know from bitter personal
experience the impact on human lives and
economic productivity of anti-personnel
landmines. We are working with South Africa
to develop coordinated and cost-effective
programmes to put into practice the principles
underlying the Ottawa convention. Tomorrow
Jean Augustine and I will be flying to Mozambique,
where we will have the opportunity to see
at first hand some of the de-mining efforts
underway there.
Another area
where South Africa and Canada have worked
closely together is in the Commonwealth
on the application of the Harare declaration.
We were both members of CMAG, the Commonwealth
Ministerial Action Group, for the first
two years after it was established. Your
Foreign Minister played a very significant
role within that group as we tackled sensitive
questions relating to the governmental systems
and human rights records of some other Commonwealth
members.
Our relationship
is not limited to trade and bilateral issues.
On the broader multilateral front, South
Africa and Canada share a commitment to
reforming the United Nations so that it
can face the next millennium as a more effective
organization. Canada hopes to gain a seat
on the Security Council for the two-year
period beginning in 1999. We are actively
seeking the support of South Africa and
the other SADC members for the election
to be held in October of this year.
Democratic
South Africa is already a respected and
influential country. We value our relationship
and it is a great honour for all of us Canadians
here today to be attempting to expand and
deepen our ties with you.
Thank you.
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