Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, will be in Pretoria from Thursday 26 January to prepare the bilateral EU-South Africa ministerial political dialogue - the 15th of its kind - which will be held on Friday 27 January with this strategic partner linked to the EU since 1999 through a trade, development and cooperation agreement. He will then travel to Botswana (28 January).
The strengthening of bilateral relations and multilateral cooperation on issues of common interest will be at the heart of this session of bilateral political dialogue co-chaired by Mr Borrell and the South African Minister for International Relations and Cooperation, Dr Naledi Pandor, whose country recently assumed the rotating presidency of the BRICS group.
The previous session of the political dialogue was held by video conference in 2020 against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, ahead of the sixth EU-African Union Summit in February 2022 (see EUROPE 12528/11). This session is taking place in a difficult geopolitical context, against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.
The recent meeting in Pretoria between the Russian minister for foreign affairs, Sergei Lavrov, and his South African counterpart, who welcomed a “most wonderful” meeting, was interpreted by Mr Borrell on 23 January, at the end of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, as a Russian “diplomatic offensive” ahead of the EU-South Africa political dialogue (see EUROPE 13105/7).
The ministerial discussions will focus on various challenges and areas of mutual interest, including peace and security, multilateral cooperation, bilateral trade and investment, RNA-messenger vaccine production (South Africa has been a production hub since June 2021), health, climate change, renewable energy, the just energy transition, science, innovation and education.
These issues, which reflect the breadth of the EU-South Africa strategic partnership, are set out in a draft joint declaration approved without debate by the ‘Foreign Affairs’ Council on 23 January.
Mr Borrell will be joined by European Commissioners Mairead McGuiness (financial services), Stella Kyriakides (health) and Jutta Urpilainen (international partnerships). They will all discuss with their South African counterparts how to deepen this strategic partnership.
In Botswana, where he will continue his tour of southern Africa on Saturday, the High Representative will hold bilateral talks, including with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Lemogang Kwape, and the Executive Secretary of SADC (the Southern African Development Community), Elias Magosi.
Returning to Johannesburg on Sunday 29 January, he is expected to visit an EU-funded project (on access to services in informal settlements of foreign migrants) and the Apartheid Museum.
See the draft joint EU-South Africa ministerial declaration: https://aeur.eu/f/52r (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)