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Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Aziz Pahad concludes Visit to Japan
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aziz Pahad has
returned to South Africa following an official visit
to Japan where he co-chaired the 7th session of the
South Africa - Japan Partnership Forum together with
the Japanese Senior Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Syuzen Tanigawa in Tokyo.
Issues on the agenda of discussions during the Partnership
Forum included regional and global issues: viz. relations
within the ASEAN bloc, the situation in North Korea,
the Aichi 2005 Expo, NEPAD as Africa's socio-economic
programme for development, the operationalisation of
the African Union (AU), efforts to create the conditions
for peace, stability and security on the African continent,
Iraq, the Middle East and South Africa's hosting of
the 2010 Soccer World Cup and the Japanese offer to
provide assistance in this regard.
Discussions during the South Africa - Japan Partnership
Forum looked at bilateral and trilateral co-operation
in the fields of Science and Technology, Health, Economy,
Culture, Education, Agriculture, and Safety and Security.
While satisfaction was expressed by both sides with
regard to the development of bilateral relations and
co-operation in all fields, it was agreed that more
could be done and that trilateral co-operation with
regard to health, agriculture, education and security
issues would be investigated. In this regard, two types
of mechanisms were discussed:
- Third country training which would involve the collaboration
of both Japan and South Africa in the training of
personnel from other SADC/African countries; and
- Joint South African-Japanese economic development
projects, e.g. the Mozal Gas Project in Mozambique,
should be conceptualised and implemented.
While in Japan, in pursuit of economic diplomacy, Deputy
Minister Pahad also had bilateral political and economic
discussions with the:
· Vice President of the Japan International Co-operation
Agency (JICA), Atsushi Hatakenaka;
· Senior Executive Director of the Japan Bank
for International Co-operation (JBIC), Shigeru Nozaki;
· President of the Japan External Trade Organisation
(JETRO), Hiroshi Tsukamoto; and
· Deputy Cabinet Secretary, Seiken Sugiura.
During these meetings, Deputy Minister Pahad focused
on the three challenges facing the African continent
in particular and the world in general: poverty and
underdevelopment, peace and security and the restructuring
of the global exercise of power.
Within this context the discussions focused on the:
- Synergies between NEPAD as the programme for African
socio-economic development and the Tokyo International
Conference on African Development (TICAD). Deputy
Minister Pahad explained that since NEPAD programmes
will be implemented within the context of sub-regional
groupings, the Japanese-South Africa relationship
should by implication extend to the rest of the SADC
countries. The opportunities for capacity building
projects in the fields of human resource development,
small-and-medium enterprises, tourism and agriculture
within the SADC region would therefore be investigated;
- The 50th anniversary of the 1955 Bandung meeting
in April 2005 which will see the launch of a strategic
Asian-African partnership for the 21st Century;
- The 2005 60th session of the United Nations General
Assembly which will look at the implementation of
the Millenium Development Goals and other decisions
of major United Nations Conferences;
- The restructuring of the United Nations in general
and the Security Council in particular. In this regard,
both sides agreed that they looked forward to the
report on Threats, Challenges and Change by the High-Level
panel of the Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. Deputy
Minister Pahad said a restructured Security Council
would pave the way for greater attention to be paid
to the developmental agenda of the South.
Representatives of JETRO, JBIC and JICA also mentioned
their desire to contribute more actively towards Africa's
development through NEPAD. All agreed that there was
also tremendous potential for South Africa, as a country
with the political will and resources to contribute
to the development of Africa, to be used as a gateway
to SADC, Sub-Saharan Africa and indeed the continent
as a whole.
In this regard Japan will host "the TICAD Asia-Africa
Trade and Investment Conference (AATIC)" and the
Japan-South Africa Business Forum in November 2004 in
Tokyo. Deputy Minister Pahad again re-iterated his call
to the South African parastatals and private sector
that economic co-operation projects between both countries
be investigated and exploited.
Issued by Ronnie Mamoepa on 082 990 4853.
Department of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001
3 October 2004
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