{"id":241364,"date":"2022-10-28T10:18:32","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T08:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/sa-spain-strengthen-relations\/"},"modified":"2022-10-28T10:18:32","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T08:18:32","slug":"sa-spain-strengthen-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/sa-spain-strengthen-relations\/","title":{"rendered":"SA-Spain strengthen relations"},"content":{"rendered":"
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South Africa and Spain have reaffirmed the bonds of friendship and solidarity that exist between them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have just concluded a very successful engagement, where we exchanged views on how to consolidate and deepen the bilateral relations between our two countries.
 
\u201cI am pleased to indicate that we held in-depth discussions on deepening trade and investment between South Africa and the Kingdom of Spain,\u201d President Ramaphosa said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

President Ramaphosa was speaking during a media briefing at the Union Buildings where he hosted his Spanish Counterpart President Pedro S\u00e1nchez P\u00e9rez-Castej\u00f3n and his delegation.<\/p>\n

The two countries signed three Memoranda of Understating (MOUs) including in the area of sport and library services.  <\/p>\n

Trade relations<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ahead of the Spain-South Africa business forum, President Ramaphosa said that South Africa is greatly encouraged by Spain\u2019s interest and investment in sectors that are key to the development and growth of the economy.
 
\u201cIt is only through collaboration, foreign direct investment and growing trade that we can overcome poverty, inequality and unemployment,\u201d he said.
 
South Africa and Spain are the two largest exporters of citrus fruit globally.
 
During their discussions, President Ramaphosa and President S\u00e1nchez agreed that a solution is needed regarding the new regulations imposed by the bloc on South African citrus fruit imports, and assured that there was a commitment to address the matter and find solutions.
 
\u201cThrough a process of rural development, land reform and enlarging the role of youth and women in agriculture, more producers will enter the agricultural space and we have seen this with more black citrus farmers entering this space as well.
 
\u201cWe would like to see them grow and gain access to key markets like Spain and the rest of the EU,\u201d the President said.<\/p>\n

The President highlighted that the Kingdom of Spain has played an important role in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting COVAX with funding and vaccine donations, donating more than 20 million vaccine doses to African countries, and providing financial support to the Global Fund, among other efforts.
 
The two Heads of State also had an opportunity to discuss issues of regional and international importance.
 
South Africa and Spain are fully committed to preserving and strengthening the rules-based multilateral system as the primary instrument for the resolution of conflicts and other global challenges.
 
\u201cWe pledged to work together to achieve a prosperous, secure and peaceful future for those areas on our respective continents facing conflict and instability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Climate change <\/strong><\/p>\n

With less than a month to go before the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), the Heads of State discussed avenues for collaboration as part of the global response to combat climate change.
 
President Ramaphosa said that South Africa and Spain agree that climate change, the loss of biological diversity and other environmental challenges must be addressed within the context of sustainable development.
 
\u201cAn important part of our collective response to climate change is increased support for green, sustainable energy policies and technologies. Several Spanish companies are active in the renewable energy sector in South Africa and we want to see such investments expanded.
  
\u201cWe welcome Spain\u2019s interest in collaborating on our national effort to achieve a just transition to a low-carbon, climate change resilient economy and society.\u201d
 
He added that government looks forward to continued engagement that will benefit the peoples of Spain and South Africa.<\/p>\n

Sanctions<\/strong><\/p>\n

President Ramaphosa also used the occasion to call on countries that have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe to lift them so that the economy of Zimbabwe can get back on its feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call on various countries that have applied sanctions on Zimbabwe to lift those sanctions so that the economy of Zimbabwe can get back on its feet and be the economy [that it] used to be.  In that way people who have left Zimbabwe will find great incentive to go back and live normal lives in their country.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said sanctions that have been applied by various countries on Zimbabwe are having a negative impact not only on Zimbabwe\u2019s economy but also on a number of countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sanctions are also having a negative impact on South Africa because as the sanctions weaken the Zimbabwean economy, Zimbabweans intend to migrate and come to South Africa and other countries in the South region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis exerts enormous pressure on us. South Africa is very open to the inflow of people from various parts of the continent but with economic challenges of unemployment and inequality that our people are now facing, the pressure becomes even greater,\u201d the President said.<\/p>\n

President Ramaphosa said that he is concerned that countries that continue to apply sanctions are disinterested about the impact this has on countries that are receiving migrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are saying those sanctions should be lifted so that we are able to bolster the economies of those countries so that people can have less of an incentive to leave their countries to go to other countries,\u201d the President said. \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa and Spain have reaffirmed the bonds of friendship and solidarity that exist between them. \u201cWe have just concluded a very successful engagement, where we exchanged views on how to consolidate and deepen the bilateral relations between our two countries. \u201cI am pleased to indicate that we held in-depth discussions on deepening trade and investment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":241365,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-241364","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-sanews","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/sa-spain-strengthen-relations.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}