Report to: Executive Committee, eThekwini Municipality
From: Eric Apelgren – Head, Intergovernmental Relations Relations
Subject: Draft Report on the 7th Forum of Friendship Cities and the Constituent
Conference of BRICS Council Regions convened in the city of St. Petersburg, Russia.
Date: 26 September 2015
Leader of the Delegation: Cllr Stanley Xulu, Chief Whip, representing Mayor James Nxumalo.
Dates of the programme in St. Petersburg: 22-26 September 2015
Officials:
 Mr Sipho Cele, Deputy City Manager, Governance and International Relations
 Mr. Eric Apelgren, Head, Intergovernmental Relations
 Dr Mpilo Ngubane, Head, Skills
 Accompanied by: Mr. Thembani Maluleke, Third Secretary: Political, South African
Embassy in Russia
1. Wednesday, 23 September
During the day - Arrival of the heads of regions and participants of the 7th Forum of Twin Cities,
transfer to the hotel, accommodation in hotels in consultation with each delegation,
consultations, working with documents. Representatives from the South African Embassy in
Russia and officials from the Mayor/Governor’s office of the city of St. Petersburg received the
Durban delegation and briefed them on the programme and protocol in Russia.
Cllr Stanley Xulu meeting the President of the St. Petersburg International Relations
Programme.
2. Thursday, 24 September
9.00 - 10.30 – Visit to specialized exhibitions in the Russian National Library.
The delegation was exposed to Russian systems of documentation of all historical documents,
all published works and academic journals for research, knowledge sharing and building a
strong sense of national pride and patriotism.
12.30 - 14.00 - A Joint meeting of the 7th Forum of Twin Cities and the Constituent Conference
of the BRICS Council of Regions (greetings from the Interim Governor of the Khanty-Mansiysk
Region Natalia Komarova and from the Governor of St.Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko,
speech by representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, speeches by foreign guests, signing
of the Memorandum to Establish the BRICS Council of Regions).
Speech on the occasion of the 7th Forum of the BRICS Friendship Cities held on the 24
September 2015 in St. Petersburg, Russia
Delivered by Cllr Stanley Xulu, on behalf of Mayor James Nxumalo.
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Mr. Georgy Poltavchenko, Governor of the St. Petersburg,
Mrs. Natalia Komarova, Governor of Autonomous District of Khanty-Mansiysk,
Mr. Song Jingwu, Vice-President of the China People’s Association for Friendship with
Foreign Countries,
Mr. Zou Chuanning, Vice-Chairperson of the Standing Committee of Qingdao Municipal
People’s Congress,
Officials from the city Guangzhou
Officials from the city of Mumbai
Esteemed delegates
Ladies and gentlemen
Good afternoon
On behalf of our Mayor and the people of the great city of Durban I wish to deliver special
greetings to all of you at this important meeting of the 7th Forum of the BRICS Friendship Cities.
Firstly I wish to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to the Governor of St. Petersburg
for hosting us this week and for the excellent hospitality we have received since our arrival.
I also wish to express our fraternal greetings to all our BRICS Friendship City partners. I am
looking forward to the future cooperation between our cities.
Today I wish to confirm and rededicate the city of Durban’s commitment to Forum of the BRICS
FRIENDSHIP CITIES. This is in keeping with all our countries stated commitments to the
BRICS process and programmes to make a better life for all our people and to create a climate
for all our cities and countries to thrive and prosper.
In addition to supporting the leadership of our respective national leaders in promoting BRICS, I
believe that we as cities can play a strategic role in bolstering the objectives of BRICS. It is
through the Forum of BRICS Friendship Cities that we can contribute and complement the
successes of BRICS at a national and international level. I believe we can do this by
considering and applying our minds to the following;
1. Promote innovative ideas for mobolising financial and human resources through a
proposed united banking system for projects in BRICS cities and regions. We are happy
to engage on this idea and take it back to our city leadership and the people of Durban.
2. Durban is Africa’s largest and busies port. It is a city of 3.6 million people and is South
Africa’s second largest city. All the BRICS Friendly cities that make up this forum are
strategic port cities in their respective regions.
It is for this reason that I recommend we should explore ideas on cooperation for an
association of BRICS port cities.
Durban is an active member of the Indian Ocean Port Cities Network. Cooperation with
all the Indian Ocean port cities gives Durban and all the BRICS port cities another
important platform for cooperation and economic growth.
The city of Durban is a strategic partner with our national government in the
implementation of Operation Phakisa – a Sotho word for accelerate/ speed up –
meaning that South Africa through the ocean economy will be accelerating economic
growth in Southern Africa.
The four main sectors to be targeted by Operation Phakisa are;
 Marine transport and manufacturing activities, such as coastal shipping, trans-shipment,
boat building, repair and refurbishment;
 Offshore oil and gas exploration;
 Aquaculture and,
 Marine protection services and ocean governance.
There are enormous opportunities through the ocean economy of all our port cities. The
following opportunities can be activated and enhanced through a BRICS association of port
cities;
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We can create more jobs,
Maximise cooperation on trade and investment through port developments, fishing,
aquaculture, boat building, ship repair and maritime governance.
share knowledge and expertise on environmental management of our oceans and ports
for sustainable growth and development,
Develop partnerships on skills development, training and capacity building to make our
ports more efficient, meet growing demands of our economy’s and make more effective
use of technology. The city of Durban will be establishing a Skills Academy to train young
people and up-skill existing staff to play a meaningful role in the economic growth of our
city and region. There will be strategic partnerships with institutions of higher learning,
the private sector, international partners/donors and the BRICS Friendship cities.
3. It is also recommended that all BRICS port cities consider ideas on cooperation for
enhanced port navigation systems. We are looking forward to discussing this proposal
with all the BRICS Friendship Cities and coming up with a joint plan to take us forward on
this proposal.
I also wish to thank all the leaders and officials for working hard at promoting the BRICS cities
Friendship and cooperation process. This will go a long way in helping our cities to manage
urbanization, migration and positively impact on the global goals for sustainable development.
In conclusion I wish once again thank the Governor and the people of St. Petersburg for the
great hospitality and agreeing to host this important forum. I will take home all the
recommendations and resolutions of the forum and come back to you all with my Mayor in the
near future with a positive way forward on future cooperation.
I thank you.
14.00 – Departure for lunch
14.30 - 15.30 – Lunch
15.30 – Departure for the EXPOFORUM convention and exhibition Centre.
16.15 - 17.15 – Visit to the Neva Maritime Exhibition (Pulkovskoye Highway, with a traffic police
escort)
17.30 – Transfer to the hotel
18.30 - Arrival to the hotel. Free time
4. Friday, 25 September
9.30 - 11.30 - Visit to the State Russian Museum. Meeting with Mr. Vladimir Gusev, Director of
the State Russian Museum
11.30 – Departure for Smolny (main entrance)
12.00 - Presentation of the BRICS Universal Electronic Navigation System by St. Petersburg
specialists, presentation of the project of training navigation centres and harmonizing of
approaches to the unified training standards of the BRICS marine navigation (Smolny, the main
entrance, Light Hall, simultaneous translation is provided);
14.00 - 14.30 - Coffee break;
14.30 - 16.00 - Discussion of the proposal of the People's Government of Qingdao (China)
create the Association of the Port Cities of BRICS countries, presentation of the port
Qingdao, speech of the head of Guangzhou delegation and presentation of the Big Port
Guangzhou, speech of the head of Shenzhen delegation and presentation of the port
Shenzhen, signing of the Declaration of Intent to create the BRICS navigation system;
to
of
of
of
16.15 – Departure for the River Neva Embankment (Vasilievsky Island, Rumyantsev
Embarkation Point (with a traffic police escort)
17.00 – Trip along the River Neva on the “New Island” ship. Reception on behalf of the
Government of St. Petersburg.
19.30 - Return to the hotel. Free time.
Saturday, 26 September
Check out for the Russian and foreign participants.
Some of the key recommendations and ideas to take forward the BRICS Friendship
cooperation
 Consider a proposal for the establishment of a BRICS ports cities Association consider
the following;
 Promote cooperation on strategic trade and investment opportunities between BRICS
port cities,
 Share knowledge and expertise on the sustainable and integrated development,
expansion and growth of ports.
 Look at strategic partners for the establishment of eThekwini’s Training Academy
 Maximize benefits from the ocean economy by mobolising strategic partners from the
BRICS countries,
 Look at strategic cooperation with Maritime education and training partners to enhance
platforms to prepare our youth and current staff in the city to fast track projects
emanating from Operation Phakisa and SIP2. Including ideas e-navigation and other
technological advancements.
 Consider the idea of BRICS Cities financial services entity that could finance for large city
projects.
 Invite BRICS city public and private sector partners to key events and conferences in the
city to create a diverse range of partnerships for mutual benefit.
 Sustain BRICS Friendship cooperation partnerships for attracting future investments,
access for Durban based company’s to trade in BRICS cities.
 Russia will be hosting the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The City of St. Petersburg will be one of
the host cities. Durban can use the partnership to share ideas and possible opportunities
for Durban companies in the build up for the games.
 The BRICS friendship cities forum provides significant opportunities for fast tracking
trade, investment and export opportunities for Durban and KZN based big and small
enterprises.
 St. Petersburg Premier League football club will be invited to send their U19 football club
to come and compete in the U19 soccer tournament in 2016.
Report ends.