Remarks by President Cyril Ramaphosa following official talks on his Courtesy Visit to the Republic of Namibia

Thank you very much for your kind congratulatory words, words of welcome. It is a real joy for us to be here in Windhoek, Namibia. Today as you correctly say we have come on a Courtesy Visit.
 
But it is also a very special Courtesy Visit because it is a visit to come and renew our friendship, to consolidate it and to also look back where we  have  come from because we have been comrades in arms, and comrades in struggle and we move forward now as comrades in development, developing our countries and you are correct in saying you can choose your friend but you cannot choose your neighbours.
 
In our case we chose each other when we were in struggle, SWAPO and the ANC chose each other as two liberation movements that decided to work together, yes against the common enemy but because we had so many things that connected us that bound us together.
 
We had the same vision, same perspective, progressive forces, bound together by a need to develop our people.
 
In many ways we chose each other but as countries we are neighbours that are joined together as well.
 
For us as South Africa this is a very special visit, we are renewing our bounds, our friendship and we want to thank you for welcoming us.
 
We are also all new because I have got two of my colleagues who are ministers. We just reshuffled our cabinet so you are looking at part of a new executive of the Republic of South Africa.
 
For us this is a very very special moment and we look forward to serious engagements at a Bi-National level.
 
We will be back here and we will engage on serious matters of the economy, on trade, on our cultural connections, on our political relations and deal with issues that are obviously aimed at developing our two countries, growing our economies and when it comes to that we will know that we are doing the right thing to take our countries forward.
 
For tonight we thank you, you have been very generous we with the time you have given us, we thank you.
 
We apologise for occupying your evening and your night, but as you know we were traveling earlier and we have decided to go on this trip and we thought that Namibia has to be an important stop for us, for us to come and present ourselves to you and to meet with you and your colleagues and your comrades.
 
We thank you for this wonderful opportunity that you have given us to be in your presence in your country and thank you for the hospitality also that you have extended to us.
 
Thank you very much.