France and SA to work together to strengthen multilateralism
PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa is taken through an augmented reality application 3D model of the Vedanta Zinc International’s Gamsberg Mine’s open-pit and plant. The mine is located in Gamsberg near Aggeneys in the Northern Cape province. The new Vedanta venture constitutes the basis for an economic node that will benefit the Northern Cape province as a whole. The company has invested over R44 million in skills development, education, health, enterprise development and municipal infrastructure support projects in the area. Vedanta also supports and prioritises local procurement, creating positive spin-offs for small and medium enterprises in the area. | GCIS FRENCH Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has told South Africans: “France and South Africa will work together to reduce inequality in the world and threats to democracy.”
Le Drian and Minister for International Relations Lindiwe Sisulu clearly enjoy a strong rapport.
“My dear Lindiwe, I have such admiration for your parents who played an enormous part in the liberation of this country,” Le Drian said.
“France and South Africa have common commitments to multilateralism and we want to work together to strengthen multilateralism, especially in the UN Security Council,” Le Drian said.
Relations between France and South Africa have grown in recent years, particularly since the election of President Emanuel Macron, who is a strong proponent of multilateralism.
Le Drian participated in the SA-France Forum for Political Dialogue in Pretoria yesterday. It was the first time the forum was elevated
to ministerial level, giving greater impetus to the strengthening of relations.
Le Drian, who spent 44 years in the French Socialist Party, previously said multilateralism was in crisis and that the disintegration of international relations was a reality.
It is Le Drian’s view that there is an obsession of the big powers with developing areas of influence, which leads to instability and crisis. “Multilateralism is only effective if the most powerful accept to use power in lawful frameworks,” Le Drian said at the Council on Foreign Relations in 2017.
But contrary to France’s defence of multilateralism and the rule of law, Le Drian claimed earlier this month that the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido had the right and legitimacy to organise new elections. This runs contrary to the UN approach to the Venezuelan crisis which is based on dialogue.
Agreements were signed during the SA-France Forum in the fields of basic and higher education, space co-operation and biodiversity.
The SA National Space Agency will work with France’s Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, and SANParks with Reunion National Park.
South African officials have hailed the fact that under the education agreements, students from technology universities will be taken to France, trained and return to work in local universities.
Le Drian has a packed three-day programme which includes meeting some of the 400 French companies based in South Africa. These companies directly employ more than 37 000 South Africans.
Le Drian will visit Sain-Gobain in Midrand, which is empowering South African workers in the field of energy-saving technologies, providing jobs, training and skills transfer.
In Cape Town the minister will visit an NGO in Khayelitsha called Waves and announce a grant of R1.58 million from the French Development Agency.
Le Drian will also visit the NGO Jumo, which allows Africans to benefit from micro-loans to complete their projects. The French Development Agency has invested $3 million in Jumo.
No visit to the Mother City would be complete without a visit to Robben Island.
This is Le Drian’s first visit to South Africa and Robben Island will be a highlight.