Honourable Minister of Science and Technology of Angola,

Your Excellency, South African Ambassador to Angola,

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

South Africa and Angola share a painful legacy of colonisation and oppression. Wars, violence and unrest wrecked our lives, our dignity, our infrastructure and our livelihoods.

Hardship has characterised the lives of the people of these two countries for centuries, and at times our hopes were dimmed by the fog of our suffering.

Yet, in spite of all this, our two countries have not allowed adversity to define our future. Now, with our political foes defeated, it is time to stand up to the socio-economic obstacles in our way. 

Hunger, poverty, lack of education, poor infrastructure, disease, infant mortality and poor sanitation should keep us policy makers, scientists, technologists, academics and engineers constantly on our toes. We must look for effective and innovative ways of using the knowledge and skills at our disposal to tackle these problems.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are gathered here this afternoon to chart a collaborative way forward in the fields of science, technology, innovation, policies, biotechnology, information and communication technologies, energy, nanotechnology and many others.

The Agreement we are signing today will create an enabling environment for our scientists and researchers to identify and support effective methods of collaborating to combat diseases that stubbornly persist in spite of all our efforts.

We cannot sit back with folded arms while our people are perishing. Neither can we continue to depend on the West to solve problems that are endemic to our region and continent.

Improved information and communications technology will make it easier for our researchers to share knowledge pertaining to diseases like malaria, TB, and HIV and AIDS, and to work together to find sustainable ways of tackling them.

For us to make any headway, a joint effort is required. The latest state-of-the-art telemedicine technology is bound to assist in our efforts to combat disease.

With technological advancement, distance is no longer an obstacle, and surgeons no longer have to travel thousands of kilometres to do an operation. It is now possible for a specialist in Angola to carry out a surgical procedure on a patient in a South African clinic, and vice versa. Africa must make use of the wonderful opportunities that modern technology is opening up to us.

Progress on the nanotechnology front, for instance, is promising. Scientists are now investigating ways of packaging several drugs in a single tablet so that TB patients are less likely to stop taking their medicine too soon – a phenomenon which has given rise to multidrug-resistant strains of the bacillus.

Instead of taking many drugs each day or even each week, researchers are trying to find techniques to reduce the frequency of drug intake to only once a month. Our institutions are making headway in this regard, but the sooner we realise our objectives the better for all of us, and collaborative efforts should accelerate the breakthroughs we hope for.

Space science and technology can assist us to keep track of our mineral, gas and oil exploration, manage our crops, settlements, and water supplies, and monitor the movement of people and peacekeeping missions.

Earth observations from space will also help us manage and mitigate the effects of natural disasters, limiting the loss of lives and livelihoods when disaster strikes unforeseen.

Many cures for human ailments are right here on the African continent. By asking the right questions and painstakingly searching for the right answers and solutions, we will be able to make major breakthroughs with the resources we possess, one of which is our indigenous knowledge. Another is our wealth of essential oils, and we need to use this resource to our advantage.

As our ancestors knew, various diseases, from skin ailments to the threat of malaria, can be solved by these essential oils, but a concentrated research effort must be carried out by competent institutions to ensure that the beneficial ingredients of our indigenous plants are used most efficiently.

Perhaps even more important, our research endeavours should be looking at finding renewable energies to solve our continent's energy problems.

Southern Africa, in which both our countries are fortunate to be situated, has the geographic advantage of high solar radiation, especially in summer. Our engineers and scientists should work on harnessing this energy for the benefit of our people. Other types of energies – nuclear, hydropower, hydrogen and fuel cell – should also be explored to find answers to the energy crisis of the modern world.

Distinguished Guests, we are fortunate to have our indigenous livestock, in particular our cattle. But how can we improve their genetic make-up to increase their resistance to disease and improve production?

As for our crops, how can we improve them so we can benefit from high yield and disease-free seed? I believe that all these questions will be answered by advancements in biotechnology as we collaborate at institutional level.

Our oceans provide various species of marine life that are staple food to many of our people.

We do not want to deplete these resources as they are critical to our survival, and we therefore need to find and use techniques and procedures that can assist in preserving these species for our nourishment and that of future generations. We have to engage in marine research to enhance better management of our natural heritage.

We all know our biodiversity is under threat. We must expeditiously engage in programmes to stem the tide of the damage humans are wreaking on our continent. The ever declining bird life is a sign that the environment and Mother Earth are indeed under attack.

Our environmentalists need to devise plans and strategies to counter this unfortunate situation to optimise our conservation efforts. While we extract useful medicinal ingredients from plants as remedies against chronic and killer diseases, we need to be mindful of their vulnerability, and put in place measures to conserve what we cannot manufacture in a laboratory. When a plant species is gone, it is gone forever; we will not be able to resuscitate it.

We also need to increase our understanding of the ever-expanding universe through the pursuit of astrophysics and astronomy-related disciplines. South Africa is bidding to host the biggest radio telescope ever, the Square Kilometre Array or SKA.

If South Africa wins the bid to host this gigantic telescope, the rest of the region will also benefit, as antennas to feed into this telescope will be positioned in various African countries. In addition, Africa will have easier access to research and possible collaboration because of the geographical location of the telescope. South Africa is banking on Angola, Honourable Minister, and our other neighbours, to support us in this profound bid.

We are still far from achieving the Millennium Development Goals for 2015. Hunger is still rife, unemployment figures have reached unprecedented heights, and infant mortality is still unacceptably high.

If we want to successfully overcome the challenges we face, African countries must collaborate strategically and synergise their efforts. We need to pool our scientific and research expertise, build, attract and retain scarce skills.

The critical mass of researchers and scientists we need would have to come from the women of our continent, and we need to create an enabling environment for them to come on board and practise their professions.

Honourable Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen, a vision for an Africa advanced and strengthened by collaboration in the pursuit of science, technology and innovation can never be overemphasised.

But suffice it to say, my team of capable scientists will be spending the rest of the week collaborating with their Angolan counterparts to develop a comprehensive plan of action for the establishment of mutually beneficial projects in areas of importance.

I believe, Honourable Minister, that this time next year, when our countries meet again, we will be reporting much progress in our collaboration.

We are truly delighted to be signing this Agreement with Angola on behalf of South Africa.

Thank you for your attention.