In Johannesburg, the Minister went to the Millpark Hospital to call on Mr Kodjovi Dodji Obilale, the goalkeeper of the national team of Togo, injured during the attack of the 8th of January in Angola.
She also met the pupils of the Diambars Academy in their school in Boksburg, in the city of Ekurhuleni. The Diambars Academy is a school for talented youngsters aspiring to be soccer players that will give them a full academic education as well as train them for high level soccer. This school is supported by French soccer greats, such as Patrick Vieira and Bernard Lama.
Later on, Mrs Rama Yade met Danny Jordan, Chief Executive Officer of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Local Organising Committee.
In Cape Town, the Deputy Minister met local and regional authorities as well as local civil society organisations, in anticipation of the FIFA World Cup next June.
She visited the Cape Town Stadium with the Mayor of the city, Mr Dan Plato, and met the Premier of Western Cape, Mrs Helen Zille.
Mrs Rama Yade visited “Homestead” civil society organisation in Khayelitsha which provides programmes for street children, particularly through football. She also visited the “FIFA Football for Hope Centre”.
The Deputy Minister took this opportunity to visit Cape Town as the French football team, “les Bleus”, will be playing their opening match in Cape Town Stadium against Uruguay on the 11th of June.
During her visit, Mrs Rama Yade highlighted France’s support for development projects through sports in South Africa.
The Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, Ms Anne-Marie Idrac, visited South Africa from 28 to 30 May 2009.
During the visit - the first by a member of the French government since the inauguration of President Jacob Zuma - Minister Idrac participated in a Franco-South African high-level conference on energy. At this conference a substantial number of French and South African companies as well as South African government officials from the spheres of energy and electricity, were brought together to engage on the priorities shared by both South Africa and France, in particular energy self-sufficiency, the stability of electricity prices in the longterm and the need to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Min Idrac was thereafter welcomed at the Gautrain construction site, accompanied by Min Bheki Nkosi, Gauteng MEC for Transport, Jack van der Merwe, Gautrain project leader and other companies involved in this project.
A trade finance deal of R360 million was signed between the French Development Agency (AFD)/Proparco and the Industrial Development Corporation in the presence of Minister Idrac. This partnership between AFD and the IDC illustrates France’s commitment to provide support to priority sectors in South Africa, such as the creation of small- and medium-sized enterprises, skills transfer and the improvement of public service delivery.
Rama Yade, Minister of State responsible for Foreign Affairs and Human Rights, paid a visit to South Africa on 8 and 9 July 2008.
Min Yade visited the Gauteng regional office of the South African Red Cross to hand over a cheque of 30 000 euros (about R400 000) in support of their work with people displaced by the recent violence in South Africa. She also re-opened the Soweto branch of the Alliance française on 8 July.
On Wednesday 9 July Min Yade conveyed President Sarkozy’s birthday wishes to former president Nelson Mandela at his 90th birthday party celebrated at the French school in Johannesburg, the lycée Jules Verne. The French government has given the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund an amount of 200 000 euros (about R2,5 million) for the construction of a children’s hospital, the second in the country, in Johannesburg.
During her visit Min Rama Yade also met with Thokozile Khupe, vice-president of the Movement for Democratic Change, and Roy Bennett to discuss the political situation in Zimbabwe.
Min Christine Lagarde, minister of finance, attended the G20 meeting in Kleinmond, Cape, on 18 and 19 November 2007. On the margins of the summit devoted to global financial stability, Min Lagarde held talks with Min Trevor Manuel, South African minister of finance and current chair of the G20 as well as with President Thabo Mbeki.
During his visit to South Africa on 10 and 11 September 2007, Jean-Marie Bockel met Aziz Pahad, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs to discuss international questions on which France and South Africa are cooperating, notably conflict resolution in Africa.
The Secretary of State presided over the signature of a funding agreement between the French Development Agency (AFD) and ABSA to facilitate wider access to affordable housing. Mr Bockel visited one of the projects receiving funding in Soweto, benefiting people from informal settlements. He also inspected other AFD projects to promote professional training and to support Black Economic Empowerment in small and medium enterprises.
Mr Bockel met some of the artists currently exhibiting at the Africa Remix exhibition at the Johannesburg Art Gallery. He also visited the Sci Bono Discovery Centre in Newtown.
Mr Bockel then left for Lesotho where he presented the authorities with a food aid donation of more than US$ 500 000.
Transcript of a news report by CNBC Africa on the affordable housing agreement signed between the French Development Agency and ABSA (11 September 2007).
The French Minister for Industry, François Loos, visited South Africa on 19 and 20 February 2007. The main purpose of his visit was to strengthen nuclear energy cooperation between France and South Africa. To this effect he met South Africa’s Minister for Mineral and Energy Affairs, Buyelwa Sonjica. Together they opened a French-South African Conference on Energy on 20 February in Cape Town. Energy policy in France and South Africa, challenges in electricity markets and nuclear energy was among the themes discussed at the conference.
Minister Loos, an engineer by training, also met the Minister for Trade, Mandisi Mpahlwa, the Minister for Public Enterprise, Alec Erwin and the Minister for Communications, Ms Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri.
Read the Minister’s speech at the opening of a French South African Conference on Energy (Cape Town, 20 February 2007)
Read a transcript of the Minister’s interview with Chris Gibbons of Talk Radio 702 and Cape Talk (Cape Town, 20 February 2007)
Read a transcript of the Minister’s interview with Peter Ndoro of SABC Africa (Pretoria, 19 February 2007)
On 1 December 2006 the Prime Minister of France, Dominique de Villepin, was on a working visit to South Africa.
At the invitation of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) he delivered a paper at the University of Witwatersrand entitled ’France, Europe and Africa: towards a new partnership in an era of globalisation’.
Mr De Villepin also visited Soweto where the municipality of Johannesburg, with the support of the French Development Agency, has started a rehabilitation project of the water system as well as an affordable housing project.
He was received by president Thabo Mbeki to discuss the roles of France and South Africa in crisis management on the continent, the situation in the Near and Middle East as well as various multilateral questions.
Christine Lagarde, Minister for Trade (currently Minister of Finance), visited South Africa from 12 to 14 November 2006 to open the first France-South Africa Forum which consolidated ties between French and South African business, and to encourage them to make joint investments on the African continent.
In the presence of French trade advisors working in South Africa and the rest of Africa, Christine Lagarde said that “investments in South Africa were risk free” as no incident had been reported to French authorities in the past five years.
During her discussions with her counterparts, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Mandisi Mpahlwa, the Minister of Public Enterprises, Mr Alec Erwin, and the Minister of Transport, Mr Jeff Radebe, Ms Lagarde pointed out that French investments in strategic South African strategic energy and transport sectors had been consolidated. In this regard, a joint declaration on the transport sector was signed with Mr Radebe.
In addition, Ms Lagarde confirmed that as long as the 2010 Soccer World Cup constituted an important milestone for South Africa as host, “French investments would remain in the country.”
Ms Lagarde also considered the position of women in the South African economy. She had discussions with leading black businesswomen from the South African private sector, some of whom are partners of French companies.
Brigitte Girardin, Minister for Cooperation, Development and Francophony, visited South Africa on April 3 and 4, 2006.
Ms Girardin had talks with Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad with whom she continued our regular political dialogue on several international questions of common interest: African questions (especially Côte d’Ivoire), Haiti, the Middle East, development financing and the G8.
She met with Deputy Finance Minister Jabulani Moleketi to whom she conveyed a French proposal for a framework charter for partnership (DCP) which sets out the priorities of our bilateral cooperation for the next five years.
She also met with South African partners of the French Development Agency (AFD), including the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). The AFD is the main actor in French cooperation in South Africa where its commitments have represented nearly 550 million euros since 1994. Ms Girardin also went to Soweto to see AFD projects and works in progress there in water supply and social housing.
Read a Business Day article about this visit
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy visited South Africa on May 19 to meet with Nelson Mandela to discuss with him the launch, which took place in New York in June 2006, of the international drug purchase facility proposed by Brazil, Chile, Norway and France.
This mechanism, founded on innovative sources of developing financing like the international solidarity contribution on airline tickets, will help give the very poor access to drugs in the developing countries to combat tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria.
Fourth South Africa-European Union Summit
Joint Communiqué
South Africa, 15 September 2011
Remarks by Herman VAN ROMPUY
President of the European Council
following the EU-South Africa Summit
Learn more about the EU-SA relatioanship
