President Cyril Ramaphosa will receive Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón of Spain on an official visit to the Union Buildings in Pretoria tomorrow.
Prime Minister Sánchez, the President of the Government of Spain, will be joined by Ms Reyes Maroto, the Spanish Minister of Industry, Trade, and Tourism, and a business group.
According to the Presidency, the visit to South Africa would strengthen the country’s existing strong ties with Spain.
The visit will showcase current bilateral cooperation and will concentrate on the execution of agreements that will benefit both nations’ populations.
The visit also aims to provide chances for different South African sectors to engage with their Spanish counterparts in order to enhance collaboration in areas such as commerce and investment, research and innovation, arts and culture, sports, and education.
“The visit, which is Prime Minister Sánchez’s first to South Africa since he assumed office in 2018, is expected to translate the long-standing bilateral relations between the two countries into tangible projects that would stimulate greater interest from Spain in South Africa, especially regarding trade, investment, tourism and cooperation in other identified sectors.
“For South Africa, 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,” the Presidency said.
Spanish corporations have consistently invested in South Africa during the last ten years. The majority of the investment is going towards renewable energy.
South African corporations have also turned to Spain as a real estate investment location.
More than 150 Spanish firms have invested in South Africa, producing over 20 000 employment, mostly in infrastructure development, renewable energy, financial services, tourism, textiles, information technology and software, metals and mining.
In the last decade, bilateral commerce between South Africa and Spain has almost doubled. In 2021, Spain was South Africa’s fourth major export destination in the EU and its fifth largest source of EU imports. Over the two-year period 2020-2021, trade between South Africa and Spain rose.
South African exports to Spain have regularly grown over the last decade.
Exports climbed from R14.9 billion in 2020 to R28.5 billion in 2021 during the prior two years.
The Spanish government issued its Third Africa Plan in 2019, a long-term policy framework that directs Spain’s ties with Africa. The strategy names South Africa as one of three “anchor” nations (together with Nigeria and Ethiopia) for Spain’s African foreign policy.
Following a welcoming ceremony at the Union Buildings, the President and Prime Minister will attend and speak at the SA-Spanish Business Forum, which aims to develop more and closer cooperation between South African and Spanish businesses in a variety of vital industries.