President Ramaphosa's Visit To Doha Highlights Strong Qatar-South Africa Relations: Envoy

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) QNA

Pretoria: The Ambassador of the State of Qatar to the Republic of South Africa HE Mubarak bin Nasser Al Khalifa confirmed that the reception of the President of the Republic of South Africa HE Cyril Ramaphosa by The Amir HH sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and the talks HH the Amir and President Ramaphosa are set to hold on Wednesday, reflect the strength of bilateral relations, highlighting that this is His Excellency's first visit since he was elected as President of South Africa in 2018.

HE the Ambassador pointed out that the visit of the South African president comes in light of the current conditions, with the Palestinian people subjected to genocide in the Gaza Strip, pointing out that South Africa is considered among the few countries in the world which explicitly expressed its condemnation of Israeli violations against the Palestinian people, and withdrew its diplomats from Israel in objection to Israeli practices.

• President of the Republic of South Africa arrives in Doha

He stressed that the relations between Qatar and South Africa have witnessed continuous development at the political, economic and diplomatic levels, as the two share a common vision on many regional and international issues, including climate change, combating extremism and terrorism, and establishing peace.

His Excellency pointed out that trade between the two countries have increased over the past five years, now amounting to approximately QR 12.7 billion ($3.5 billion), while QatarEnergy and Total entered into a partnership to explore a huge gas condensate field in the Outeniqua Basin, off the southern coast of South Africa.

He pointed out that there are more than 25 joint agreements and MoU between Doha and Pretoria in several fields, some of which are in their final stages. A number of these agreements are expected to be signed during the visit of PresidentRamaphosa, which will result in more mutual visits between the relevant ministers in both countries.

The ambassador confirmed in his statement to QNA that the participation of President Ramaphosa in the Qatar Economic Forum 2021, which was held via video communication technology, constituted a response to the efforts made by the two countries to strengthen bilateral relations that have gained a lot of momentum in recent years, which reflects South Africa's desire to increase the level of cooperation through the formulation of many agreements, including the economic, commercial and technical cooperation agreement, the mutual investment protection agreement, and cooperation agreements in the fields of health, education and youth.

He explained that diplomatic relations between the State of Qatar and the Republic of South Africa were established in 1994 when South Africa became a democratic state with the support of the international community and with great support from the State of Qatar in international forums, as it also supported the struggle of South Africans for liberation.

Ambassador Al Khalifa stated that South Africa is considered the center of gravity on the continental level, as its economy is the largest and most developed among all African countries, with the presence of modern infrastructure in almost all parts of the country and a GDP estimated at 352 billion dollars, it is also the world's largest producer of platinum, gold and chromium.

South Africa also hosts 170 embassies, in addition to being a member of the BRICS and the G20, the ambassador said. Both countries are also members of the Group of 77 at the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement.

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