Cape Town - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will host Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón on an official visit to Pretoria on Thursday, a spokesperson for the presidency confirmed.
The two leaders will discuss a variety of challenges such as poverty, unemployment and inequality.
Bilateral discussions will also look at South Africa’s economic recovery and reconstruction efforts following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the president’s spokesperson said.
Prime Minister Sánchez will be accompanied by the Spanish Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Ms Reyes Maroto, and a business delegation.
According to the presidency, the official visit to South Africa will solidify the already strong relations between South Africa and Spain.
“This visit will highlight the existing cooperation between the two countries and will focus on the implementation of agreements intended to benefit the citizens of both countries,” it said.
The presidency said on Wednesday that the official state visit also seeks to create opportunities for various South African sectors to meet with their Spanish counterparts and to deepen cooperation in trade and investment, science and innovation, arts and culture, sports and education.
This will be Prime Minister Sánchez’s first visit to South Africa since he assumed office in 2018.
The presidency said the engagement between the two leaders is directed towards addressing the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality and to boost South Africa’s economic recovery and reconstruction efforts following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the presidency, over the past 10 years, there has been steady investment in South Africa by Spanish companies. The bulk of the investment is in the renewable energy sector.
South African companies have also looked to Spain as an investment destination in the real estate sector.
More than 150 Spanish companies have invested in South Africa, creating over 20 000 jobs, largely in the following sectors: Infrastructure Development, Renewable Energy, Financial Services, Tourism, Textiles, IT & Software, Metals and Mining.
Bilateral trade between South Africa and Spain
In 2021, Spain was South Africa’s 4th largest export destination in the EU and 5th largest source of imports from the EU. Trade between South Africa and Spain increased over the two-year period, 2020 and 2021.
Exports from South Africa to Spain increased consistently for the past 10 years.
For the last two years, exports increased from R14.9 billion in 2020 to R28.5 billion in 2021.
In 2019, the Spanish government launched its Third Africa Plan, a long-term strategic document that guides Spain’s relations with the African continent. The plan identifies South Africa as one of the three “anchor” countries (together with Nigeria and Ethiopia) for Spain’s foreign policy in Africa.
Following a welcome ceremony at the Union Buildings, the President and Prime Minister will attend and address the SA-Spanish Business Forum, which seeks to foster further and closer collaboration between South African and Spanish companies in a number of key sectors, the presidency said.