PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA RECEIVED BY SAUDI ARABIA’S CROWN PRINCE IN JEDDAH (VIDEOS)

Crown Prince Receives President of South Africa (Photo:SPA)

Sun 16 October 2022:

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa was received by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Sunday.

Ramaphosa was given a ceremonial welcome at the Royal Court of al-Salam Palace.

The leaders held discussions during which they reviewed various areas of cooperation between Saudi Arabia and South Africa as well as bilateral relations and topics of shared interest.

Senior officials from both countries attended a ceremony where several cooperation programs, Memorandums of Understanding, and agreements were exchanged in front of the Crown Prince and Ramaphosa.

MoUs were signed in the fields of media cooperation, investment, communications and information technology, agriculture, aquaculture, social development, health, trade, military cooperation, and mineral technology.

The Crown Prince’s meeting with the South African President coincided with the Saudi-South African Investment Forum, which took place on Saturday and during which 11 other agreements and MoUs were signed to boost investments in energy, water, green hydrogen, waste management, and logistics.

Minister of State and Cabinet Member Prince Turki bin Mohammed bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz; Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah; Minister of Interior Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz and Minister of the National Guard Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz attended the talks.

Also in attendance were the Kingdom’s Tourism Minister Ahmed bin Aqeel al-Khateeb; Investment Minister Khalid bin Abdulaziz al-Falih; Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Bandar bin Ibrahim al-Khorayef; the Governor of the Public Investment Fund, Yasser bin Othman al-Rumayyan; Advisor at the Royal Court, Ahmed Qattan; and the Saudi Ambassador to South Africa Sultan al-Anqari.

From the South African side, Minister of Cooperation and International Relations Dr. Naledi Pandor; South Africa’s ambassador to the Kingdom Mogobo David Magabe; Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza; Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel; Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula; Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Gwede Mantashe; Minister of Defense and Military Veterans Thandi Modise, and a number of senior officials, were in attendance.

Investment Forum Underscores the Strategic Partnership Between the Two Countries

Ministry of Investment organized Yesterday (14 October) the Saudi-South African Investment Forum in Jeddah, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Saturday.

During the forum, 11 agreements and memoranda of understanding were signed in the government and private sectors in energy, water, green hydrogen, waste diversion, logistics, and aerial survey services, aimed at promoting the developing investment sectors between the two countries and between the Middle East and South Africa region.

In his address at the forum, the Minister of Investment praised the solid Saudi-South African relations, including the economic and trade cooperation spanning more than three decades, citing the Kingdom’s economic and competitive advantages, which is the largest economy in the Middle East and the Arab world, adding that the volume of the economy of this region is expected to exceed $1 trillion and that the Kingdom is growing at the fastest rate among the G-20 economies, as it enjoys a strategic location linking three continents, and has a coastline of 1,200 km along the Red Sea, through which about 15 percent of global trade travels.

On the Saudi-South African economic relations, Al-Falih explained that bilateral trade between the two countries is constantly growing, as it increased from $4.6 billion in 2019 to around $4.8 billion last year, and is expected to exceed $5.3 billion in 2022, reiterating the two countries’ ability to enhance these numbers to higher levels, by activating the great commercial and logistical capabilities of the Kingdom and South Africa.

Al-Falih underscored priority areas of cooperation between the Kingdom and South Africa, which include renewable and green energy, hydrogen and solar energy, mining, agriculture and food processing, industry, manufacturing, defense, and aerospace industries, tourism, communications, and information technology, stressing the importance of benefiting from the enormous potential of the two countries, given the fact that South Africa represents a major access point to the African continent, while the Kingdom is an important gateway to the broader Middle East and a link between East and West.

The forum’s agenda included sessions to discuss major projects in the Kingdom, and dialogue sessions in mining, industry, agriculture, food industries, tourism, energy, and renewable energy.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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