By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s trip to the United Kingdom, which marked King Charles III’s first state visit since his accession to the throne, concluded Wednesday evening with a farewell at Buckingham Palace.
South Africa and UK agreed to closer collaboration to tackle pandemics and develop medicine.
Health and education institutions will begin research in nine projects, from health systems and financing to mental health and surgery.
The agreement was struck during Ramaphosa’s state visit to Britain, the first hosted by King Charles III as Britain’s monarch.
It includes more UK funding to support genome sequencing to improve antimicrobial resistance monitoring in Africa.
More than 17,000 genomes have been sequenced to date inSouth Africa with UK support.
The additional funding will enable more rapid detection of diseases in at least 18 African countries, which could help to prevent pandemics.
Climate change
Ramaphosa noted that while climate change imposes costs on businesses, it also provides new opportunities.
“For South Africa, this opportunity lies in the effort to build a greener base to manufacturing and energy generation. There is potential for significant partnerships on electric vehicle production, on green hydrogen and on green steel production. Already we have built a large renewable energy generation sector and are rapidly growing it as a response to our energy challenges,” Ramaphosa said.
He said South Africa sees a new partnership that will enable funding, know-how and technical support mobilised on a vast scale to help the country achieve a just transition from a carbon-intensive economy to industrialisation driven by renewable energy.
“Strengthening the partnership between the UK and South Africa is not only crucial in improving health and patient outcomes in both countries, but it is also vital to add to the global resilience of our health systems,” said Steve Barclay, UK Health and Social Care Secretary.
“Through this partnership, we will reinforce our shared commitment to ensuring the world is better prepared for pandemics through joint research and building capability for disease surveillance.
COVID-19
“The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare Africa’s vulnerability with respect to the supply of medicines, medical equipment and vaccines.
We used all the ingenuity of South African manufacturers to create production capacity for medical-grade face masks, hand sanitisers, COVID-19 test kits and ventilators. Our excellent genome sequencing capacity was used to detect new variants of COVID-19.
Given the strong research and innovation record of British companies, the new partnership can improve collaboration and unlock joint funding and investment in developing Africa’s medical supply hub, “Ramaphosa said.
Bilateral trade
In 2021, bilateral trade between South Africa and Britain was valued at £17 000 a minute.
“That means that in the time it took the English football team to score their first three goals on Monday, our trade grew by about £200 000. While a large part of South Africa’s exports is still in minerals, there has been a significant increase in manufacturing exports, using South African industrial capabilities to meet the needs of British businesses and consumers. In the new partnership, we are keen to increase the volume and diversify the composition of trade so that we sell more manufacturing products to UK markets,” he said.
The President emphasised that trade in services is also important.
“South Africa is a large supplier of global business services, with call centres in our big cities providing round-the-clock services to the customers of businesses in the UK. We are looking to significantly expand tourism between our countries. South Africa receives more visitors from Britain than from any other country outside of Southern Africa. Visitors are attracted by the beauty of our landscape and wildlife, our long and rugged coastline, our music and culture, and the energy of our urban areas, “Ramaphosa said.
He said the relationship between the United Kingdom and South Africa has changed over the course of history.
“This visit proves the strength and endurance of the ties between us. As this State Visit draws to a close, we are certain of a new era of partnership between the United Kingdom and South Africa,” the President said.