President Ramaphosa will receive Prime Minister Sánchez of Spain

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, who is the President of the Government of Spain, will be accompanied by the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism of Spain, Mrs. Reyes Maroto, and a business delegation.

According to the Presidency, the visit to South Africa will consolidate the already solid relations between South Africa and Spain.

The 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.

The visit also seeks to create opportunities for various South African sectors to meet with their Spanish counterparts and deepen cooperation in trade and investment, science and innovation, arts and culture, sports and education.

“The visit, the first by Prime Minister Sánchez to South Africa since he took office in 2018, is expected to translate the long-standing bilateral relations between the two countries into tangible projects that stimulate greater interest from Spain in South Africa, especially in terms of regarding trade, investment, tourism and cooperation in other identified sectors.

“For South Africa, the commitment between the two leaders is aimed at addressing the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality and boosting South Africa’s economic recovery and reconstruction efforts following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Presidency said.

During the last 10 years, there has been a constant 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 a destination for investment in the real estate sector.

More than 150 Spanish companies have invested in South Africa creating more than 20,000 jobs, mainly in the following sectors: infrastructure development, renewable energy, financial services, tourism, textiles, IT and software, metals and mining.

Bilateral trade between South Africa and Spain has almost quadrupled in the last 10 years.

In 2021, Spain was South Africa’s fourth export destination in the EU and the fifth source of EU imports.

Trade between South Africa and Spain increased during the 2-year period 2020 and 2021.

South African exports to Spain increased steadily during the 10-year period.

Over 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 (along with Nigeria and Ethiopia) of 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 greater and closer collaboration between South African and Spanish companies in a number of key sectors.