EU-South Africa : Mogherini stresses multilateralism & diversity

Federica Mogherini i started her two-day visit to South Africa with a visit to the Hector Pieterson Museum, named after the 13-year-old boy whose murder provoked the uprising in Soweto in 1976.

She was accompanied on her tour by Antoinette Sithole, Hector’s sister, and paid tribute also to the house of Nelson Mandela. And much of the speech the HRVP gave to the South Africa Institute of International Affairs at Wits University was dedicated to the legacy of Madiba.

Twenty years after Mandela's speech at Oxford University, we are still far from a new world order. Twenty years have been missed and now we have a "global disorder", Mogherini said.

She went on to say that "only strong partnerships and multilateralism can address global challenges. The police approach has created more problems."

"It is difficult to navigate these times, nothing we take for granted necessarily lasts forever and we need to preserve our values," Mogherini said. "We need to work on the diversity of our societies, to fight any form of racism, being in South Africa or Europe."

Today, the HRVP co-chaired in Pretoria the 13th EU/South Africa ministerial meeting with Foreign Minister Mashabane.

"The world needs the EU and South Africa to unite and build bridges," she said in the press conference soon after the meeting. "We can address together challenges such as trade, unemployment, security, climate change, sustainable development goals,” underlined Mogherini. "Our partnership is based on a long friendship, it has deep roots and a bright future."