State visit to South Africa - Cape Town

After the capital Pretoria and the city of Johannesburg, the King and Queen will conclude their state visit to South Africa with a two-day program full of activities in Cape Town, the country's second most important economic center.

The Sovereigns will be accompanied by the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs, Foreign Trade and Federal Cultural Institutions, Ms. Hadja Lahbib, the Minister-President of Wallonia, Mr. Elio Di Rupo, and the Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region, Mr. Rudi Vervoort.

Upon their arrival in Cape Town this Saturday at noon, the Royal Couple and the delegation will be hosted for lunch by H.E. Alan Winde, Premier of the Western Cape, and his wife. This will be an opportunity to strengthen the relationship between Belgium and this dynamic region by addressing issues such as energy and health, as well as trade, investment and tourism between our two countries.

In the afternoon, the Belgian delegation will visit the Afrigen Biologics site that hosts the World Health Organization (WHO) mRNA technology transfer hub. This project is a collaboration between South African companies Afrigen and Biovax and Belgian companies Univercells and ETheRNA, and aims to strengthen local vaccine research and production. Afterwards, the King and Queen will visit the University of the Western Cape, which has long-standing close links with the universities of Ghent (Universiteit Gent) and Brussels (Vrije Universiteit Brussel). The visit will focus on the academic cooperation between these institutions in the field of digital inclusion in order to offer more training and employment opportunities to disadvantaged and vulnerable young people.

The day will end with a visit to the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art where a panel discussion followed by a reception will be organized by the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (FEB) in order to highlight Belgian economic and business successes in South Africa, as well as to bring together Belgian and South African business people.

On Sunday, the delegation will start with a visit to the Philippi Village social center, in the heart of Philippi Township, with a focus on three Belgian projects: a branch of the Belgian social e-inclusion company "Close the Gap"; the ASSITEJ children's theater, supported by Flanders and Wallonie-Bruxelles International; and a new soccer field, an initiative of the Belgian Chamber of Commerce.

After a lunch at the Belgian restaurant "Den Anker", combining Belgian and South African gastronomy under the leadership of chefs Piet Huysentruyt and Reuben Riffel respectively, the Sovereigns, accompanied by the delegation, will visit the "Kirstenbosch Gardens". This UNESCO World Heritage Site is the location where the South African National Institute of Biodiversity (SANBI) was founded and still has its largest research center. SANBI, with the support of Flanders, studies and develops solutions to protect this unique world heritage from the consequences of climate change.

The state visit will end at the residence of the Belgian Consul General in Cape Town with a reception in the presence of the Belgian community and local personalities. The entire delegation will return to Belgium on Monday.​