President Cyril Ramaphosa: Media briefing remarks during State Visit to Kenya

Media briefing remarks by President Cyril Ramaphosa during the State Visit to Kenya

Your Excellency, Dr William Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya,

Members of the Governments of Kenya and South Africa,

Members of the media,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to sincerely thank President Ruto for hosting me and my delegation on this State Visit.

We have just concluded very productive and constructive talks, which have taken forward our cooperation in several areas of mutual interest.

This visit has once again reaffirmed that our bilateral relations are based on a sound foundation of mutual respect, shared values, friendship and democracy.

These principles will undoubtedly continue to serve us in the future, especially in times of global uncertainty.

We used our discussions to take stock of the current state of our bilateral relations, while also exploring other areas of mutual interest and possible cooperation.

The agreements that we have witnessed today are a demonstration of new areas of cooperation that our two countries have identified.

We are committed to ensure that the agreements and memoranda of understanding that we have signed in the past few years will be implemented fully.

South Africa and Kenya are confronted by similar challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment.

Since 2020, South Africa has been implementing an Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan to lift our economy out of a prolonged period of slow growth, to create jobs and to undertake far-reaching economic reform.

This is not dissimilar to Kenya’s Recovery Plan, with its six core pillars of agriculture, micro, small and medium enterprise, housing and settlement, health care, the digital superhighway and creative economy, and the environment and climate change.

There are definitely opportunities for South Africa and Kenya to share experiences and good practice in the implementation of these two economic plans.

We are therefore pleased by the Business Forum that is taking place as part of the State Visit.

This is an opportunity to make new contacts and establish new business undertakings between our respective private sectors and state-owned companies.

As leading economies in our regions, our bilateral trade and investment ought to be greater and more diverse.

Through our discussions today we have demonstrated a firm commitment to substantially increase volumes of trade and foster greater investment in each other’s economies.

During our dicussions, we had useful exchanges on several issues affecting the Continent, including the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Western Sahara.

We agree on the need for peace and stability on our Continent and an end to conflicts both within and between states.

Besides destroying lives and livelihoods, these conflicts retard our progress in addressing important social and economic issues.

We have therefore agreed that we need to remain focused on issues affecting our regions and Continent and not be distracted by other global matters that are not of our making.

We advocate for African solutions for African challenges.

We have the necessary expertise, experience, wisdom and institutions to solve issues affecting our Continent.

Kenya and South Africa share a common commitment to strengthen and capacitate the African Union to carry out its core mandate of social and economic development of the African people.

We have called for global solidarity, fairness, a rules-based international system and the reinforcement of multilateralism to address current and future global challenges.

Kenya and South Africa are aligned on the need to reform the United Nations system, in particular the UN Security Council, and the transformation of institutions of global governance.

As we take leave from Kenya, we are encouraged by the fact that our bilateral relations are solid and continue to grow from strength to strength.

It is our hope and conviction that our relations will deepen and that cooperation will grow to cover a greater diversity of areas.

We are building an enduring partnership between Kenya and South Africa that will benefit all our people and that will make an important contribution to the development of our continent.

I thank you.

Source: Government of South Africa