By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Dr Naledi Pandor, says the experience Greece has acquired over time in green power resources would be beneficial to South Africa.
This comes as government announced a series of interventions aimed at solving the country’s worsening power crisis and expanding electricity availability to ease the ongoing load shedding.
According to reports, Greece relies on a range of sources for electricity, with no one source accounting for more than 50%. In August of 2022, the non-profit online publication NPR said natural gas and renewable sources, such as wind and solar, accounted for the most power.
Pandor on Tuesday hosted her counterpart, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikolaos Dendias, for a bilateral meeting in Pretoria.
“We’ve agreed on the number of areas that we want to explore further education, collaboration and support to South Africa as it addresses its energy challenges.”
Pandor also spoke about shipbuilding, which is at the heart of the Greece economy and ranks as the world’s largest ship-owning nation.
“Greece is a renowned voyager and shipbuilder and we believe we could draw on that experience to help build our own shipbuilding sector in this country,” the Minister said.
“And anyone who is a sensible traveller knows they must tour Greece at least once in their life.”
Pandor described the European nation as a beautiful country, with wonderful tourist facilities.
“Tourism is a very important economic sector and we’d love to learn from our colleagues in Greece as to how we can improve our service and how we can expand the tourism sector to increase the current contribution to the gross domestic product of South Africa.”
“So, we’ve got an agenda already and have agreed there’s work that we must do together. And this is just the beginning of the steps toward a much stronger relationship.”
The Minister told her counterpart that South Africa has a “sizable” community with Greek history and that the community plays a very important role within the small and medium enterprise sector in various sectors, especially in pharmaceutical products.
“And of course, the delicious food that we enjoy in many Greek restaurants throughout our country. So, it is a community that has made its presence very positively felt in South Africa.”
Greece has a growing and active interest in Africa and would like to enhance its relations with South Africa, which is one of the most significant countries on the continent.
Dendias said Africa is one of the six pillars of Greece’s foreign policy.
He stressed that relations between the countries are based on respect for international law and the International Law of the Sea, while noting that South Africa has signed the International Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which is extremely important for Greece.
As the minister said, Greece also supports the deepening of relations between South Africa and the EU.
“I am very happy that Vice-President Borrell is coming to Pretoria – and we have discussed this with you – together with three Commissioners. It is important that we help European investments in Africa. And I was very happy to hear the way you see things, how things could progress.”
This meeting, Dendias said, is an opening of a new chapter in enhancing relations. He also invited South Africa to participate in the “Our Ocean Conference” in 2024, which will be organised together with the USA.
A list of sectors for cooperation was also discussed such as tourism, energy, yachting and education. “I think we have lots to do, lots to build upon this solid foundation,” he stressed.