Addis Ababa, August 2, 2023 (FBC) – South Africa International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Naledi Pandor said that Ethiopia and South need to cement their cooperation to continue being leaders on the African continent.
Ethiopia and South Africa have played significant roles in supporting the emergence of pan-Africanism and the African Union (AU.), the minister told ENA.
“These countries played such an important role in giving life to the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD) and in supporting the emergence of the African Union. So, we say Ethiopia and South Africa played a leading role in that regard.”
According to her, the countries need to therefore cement the relationship to continue being leaders on the continent.
To this end, the 4th Ethiopia-South Africa Joint Ministerial Commission meeting was held on Monday here in Addis Ababa to further bolster the existing strategic bilateral relations and continental issues.
Pandor stated that the meeting affirmed the strong cooperation between the two countries.
“We affirmed the very strong cooperation that exists between South Africa and Ethiopia. But we also identified new areas of cooperation. We’ve agreed that we must play a bigger role in advancing the objectives of Agenda 2063,” she elaborated.
The minister added that Ethiopia and South Africa have also agreed to boost the private sector and encourage businesses to exchange and enhance economic diplomacy as one of the key priorities for collaboration.
Among a number of new agreements that the two countries are working on, one of the most important one is agriculture, according to Pandor.
“As Africa we have a challenge of food security. And I think if we can cooperate successfully together to expand agricultural production, and agro-processing in our countries, we will address food security.
“We’ve also agreed to add economic diplomacy because we must grow the private sector and ensure that it helps us with job creation and with greater public revenue.”
Recalling her discussion with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Monday afternoon, the minister said that we had a very good discussion on BRICS.
She revealed that President Cyril Ramaphosa has invited Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to take part on the 15th BRICS Summit to be held in South Africa this month.