South African President Thabo Mbeki has toasted the role played by Germans in the building of the South African economy and the continuing role they are playing on the continent of Africa.
Speaking at a banquet in honour of visiting German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder at the Presidential Guest House in Pretoria on Thursday night, Mbeki said: “Some of the most important German companies constitute a significant part of the community of the corporate citizens of South Africa.
“They continue to make a critical contribution to the growth, modernisation and international competitiveness of our economy and the transformation of our country into a stable and prosperous non-racial and non-sexist democracy.”
“To cite a little-known example of what some of the German corporations are doing to help us realise these goals, Continental Tyres has implemented an exciting and far-reaching black economic empowerment programme that may very well serve as an example to the entirety of the South African corporate world.”
Mbeki noted that some of South Africa’s towns and localities carry German names. These include Berlin, Potsdam, Frankfort, Hamburg, Hanover, Stutterheim and Braunswich.
“This points to the fact of the inter-connection between the German and South African peoples.
“Today the largest group of tourists we receive from any of the European countries comes from Germany.”
“Leaders of German business serve on two important presidential advisory councils. These are the investment council, which helps us to respond correctly and speedily to the evolving domestic and international economic situation, and the task force on information society and development, which has made it possible for us to keep close enough to the cutting edge of the evolution of the opportunities opened up by the rapid development of information and communication technologies.”
Mbeki said: “We are indeed very inspired by our cooperation in the field of science and technology. This includes such areas as marine science and conservation, the Hess telescope facility in Namibia, the Salt large telescope in our Northern Cape province, the Antarctic, biodiversity, the education for our youth and teachers, the strengthening of our research capacity and the development of the automobile industry.
“I am very pleased that your visit to Africa includes a number of countries [including Ghana, Ethiopia and Kenya]. This is consistent with your concern to support our continent to meet its political economic and social goals, centred on the strengthening of democracy and the defeat of poverty and underdevelopment, and represented by the African Union and Nepad [the New Partnership for Africa’s Development].”
Mbeki also thanked Germany for supporting South Africa’s bid for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. — I-Net Bridge