Second South Africa-European Union Summit
PRETORIA, South Africa, September 11, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Second South Africa-European Union Summit
We, the leaders of South Africa (SA) and the European Union (EU), meeting today in Kleinmond, reaffirm our commitment to our strategic partnership based on shared values and interests, including the promotion of peace and security, human rights, democracy, the rule of law and sustainable development regionally and globally.
We pay tribute to the victims of the outrageous events on this very day eight years ago, and also recall the untimely passing of Anna Lindh, the Swedish Foreign Minister, on this day in 2003. We remember Anna Lindh as a champion for peace and justice the world over, including in the struggle for South Africa’s liberation and democracy. South Africa remains deeply grateful for the support of the Swedish government and civil society in the struggle against apartheid.
We reviewed the rapid expansion of our bilateral relationship, manifested by a strengthened Strategic Partnership, and had fruitful discussions on bilateral as well as global issues and regional situations of common interests and concern.
The 1999 Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) was a landmark in SA-EU relations and constitutes an important basis for our bilateral relations. Today, on its 10th anniversary we are pleased to have signed the first Revision Agreement, which together with the Joint Action Plan for the SA-EU Strategic Partnership lay the ground for an enhanced and deepened relationship in diverse existing and new areas of cooperation. In this regard we are pleased to note that, since the last Summit, dialogue fora on Migration, Health, Space, Energy, ICT and Maritime Transport have been added to the existing dialogues on Science and Technology, Trade, Development, Environment and Sustainable Development, as well as Political and Security and Interparliamentary Meetings.
We will continue to strengthen our bilateral relationship through the implementation of the Revised TDCA and the Joint Action Plan for the SA-EU Strategic Partnership. In this regard, we welcome the launch of the employment creation fund of € 120 million, equivalent to R 1.3 billion. Furthermore we recognise the importance of education and skills development for economic growth and poverty reduction and look forward to the establishment of a sectoral policy dialogue forum on education and training, as well as the important planned European Commission’s support for the education sector in 2009.
Science and technology represents another highly relevant area, with South Africa being one of the most successful participants from outside Europe in the EU’s Framework Programmes for Research. Under the current 7th Framework Programme alone, € 13 million have so far been awarded through competitive calls for proposals to South African organisations. On the role of Science and Technology for poverty alleviation, South Africa and the EU are currently implementing a € 30 million sector budget support programme.
We agreed to increase our joint efforts and shoulder our responsibilities to address the multiple challenges facing the world. Only through the involvement of both developed and developing countries in a partnership of cooperation and mutual respect can we successfully tackle the global economic and financial crisis, climate change, food insecurity and energy scarcity.
We discussed the global economic crisis, especially its negative impact on Africa. We share a commitment to the implementation of the decisions of the London G20 Meeting. Looking ahead to the Pittsburgh G20 Meeting, we share the view that the G20 economies should pursue macroeconomic and structural policy choices consistent with more balanced and sustainable global growth and equitable development that is less prone to crisis and volatility. Achieving this new framework will require coordinated strategies to exit from the extraordinary support developed to overcome the crisis, as well as to reduce global imbalances. We will work together to build a stronger, more globally consistent, supervisory and regulatory framework for the financial sector, which will support sustainable global growth.
SOURCE
European Commission
