Europe Day 2011 – strategic partnerships for dialogue and action
11/05/2011

ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability - Africa attended and participated in the recently held Europe Day 2011 at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria (South Africa ) on Wednesday 11 May 2011.


The Strategic Partnership that exists between South Africa and the European Union (EU) was reinforced during Europe Day 2011. In his welcoming speech, the Head of the Delegation of the European Union to South Africa, Roeland van de Geer, illustrated the EU’s strong commitment to this partnership through their substantial financial investment ‘between 2007 and 2013 of €10 billion to support South Africa in green economic and sustainable growth. This commitment has been further enhanced by an additional €10 billion through the European Investment Bank, accessible via grants and loans’.

Head of the Delegation of the European Union to South Africa, Roeland van de Geer

 

Europe Day 2011 focused on environmental and climate change issues and activities, with key stakeholders from within South Africa and EU member embassies showcasing their work within the field. During his address, van de Geer stated that ‘South Africa needs to adopt green as the colour of economy or we perish’. In addition he noted that trade has been identified as one of the most important revenue generators for South Africa.

South Africa’s Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabango

 

South Africa’s Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabango echoed van de Geer’s thoughts on this important partnership and added that ‘South Africa undertakes to focus on driving green economic development and the use of alternative and renewable energies to ensure long-term sustainable growth during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties 17 (UNFCCC COP17) to be hosted in Durban, South Africa later this year’.

Jon Burns, Chief Technical Advisor for the South Africa – European Union Strategic Partnership: Dialogue Facility

The South Africa – European Union Strategic Partnership newly launched ‘Dialogue Facility’ was introduced to guests by Jon Burns, Chief Technical Advisor for the programme.  The dialogue facility seeks to support the strengthening of policy dialogue between the EU and South Africa, and is based upon demand from both South African and European organisations seeking mutual beneficial dialogue. In his speech Burns noted that ‘the SA-EU partnership is one of very few such strategic partnerships’ and that it ‘demonstrated the commitment of both parties’. He further stated that the Dialogue Facility ‘has been set up to facilitate the agreement, the action plan and dialogue between the European Union and South Africa’. This exciting new programme has established twelve dialogue areas to date: Peace & Security, Development Cooperation, Science & Technology, Trade Cooperation, Environment & Sustainable Development, Migration, Health, Space Cooperation, Energy, Transport, Joint Parliamentary Committee and Information and Communication Technologies. In addition, the Dialogue Facility is currently developing a further six dialogue areas: Education & Training, Crime & Justice, Employment & Social Dialogue, Customs Cooperation, Statistics and Arts & Culture.

During the event ICLEI Africa was given the opportunity to showcase its innovative and pioneering work with local governments funded by the European Commission. Projects highlighted included:

•    ACCESSanitation: Accelerating City to City Exchange on Sustainable Sanitation, website

•    Local Initiatives in the promotion of the attainment of the Water and Sanitation Millennium Development Goals, website

•    The Local Government Climate Roadmap: website

•    Local Climate Solutions for Africa 2011 and the African Mayors Climate Change Declaration can be found at the official website.