On Friday 29 Oct, we had the 2010 JIPSA JMDP closing ceremony and cocktail party at the Paris Chamber of Commerce offices. The ceremony was attended by a very high-level delegation once again... "myself & Albertyn are starting to feel like big businessmen by now, I might add".
In attendance was (His Excellency) Mr. Geoff Doidge, South Africa's Minister of Public Works, (Her Exellency) Mrs. Dolana Msimang, South African Ambassador to France, Mrs. Corinne Brunon-Meunier, Deputy Director Sub-Saharan Africa Department (Agence Francaise de Development - AFD), Mrs. Barbara Lombard, Executive: Corporate Services - National Empowerment Fund of South Africa and Mr. Michel Destouches, Vice President - Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIP). Along with these VIP's were their advisors, etc. so there was a lot of networking opportunities once again.
The attendance of these calibre of business people (Governement & Private sector) displays the commitment of the initiative signed between Nicolas Sarkozy & Jacob Zuma in 2007. With the stroke of a pen and a signature on a piece of paper, the wheels are in motion to bolster the SA / French partnership, I hope that more alliance initiatives like this can happen so that SA's development can unfold on a much broader scale in a shorter space of time.
We ended of on a high note... see pics of us rubbing shoulders with the "big-wigs" at the office of CCIP, which is more like a museum than offices, right down the road from the Arc de Triomphe adjacent to Champs Elysees.
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