Minister Dlamini Zuma to lead South African Delegation to the SA-AU-Caribbean Diaspora Conference

Kingston - South African Foreign Minister, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma will, today-Sunday 13 March 2005- depart for Kingston Jamaica where she will lead the South African delegation to the South Africa, the African Union and the Caribbean Diaspora Conference scheduled for 16-18 March 2005.

The Conference, which will be co-hosted by South Africa, the AU and the Jamaican Government, will convene under the theme "Towards Unity and United Action by Africans and the African Diaspora in the Caribbean for a Better World".

Conference is expected to be attended by more than 250 participants including Ministers, Parliamentarians, the private sector, academics, civil society, NGO's, media and cultural organisations.

The SA-AU-Caribbean Diaspora Conference is convened with a view to:

  • Creating linkages between Africa and the Diaspora while initiating dialogue on common challenges
  • Strengthening partnerships and co-operation between the peoples of the two regions
  • Establishment of mechanisms for building stronger political and economic relations between Africa and the Caribbean
  • Identification of new opportunities for future collaboration that can be of mutual benefit in the political, economic and socio-cultural spheres
  • Development of a common agenda for confronting common problems that afflict Africa and the Caribbean
  • And to give concrete meaning to decisions of the African Union on the African Diaspora

Accordingly, the Conference will in pursuit of these objectives discuss the following issues:

  • Pan Africanism revisited
  • International Affairs, Peace and Security
  • The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Report on Threats, Challenges and Change
  • Democracy and Good Governance
  • Regional Developments and Integration
  • Economic Co-operation and Trade links
  • Historical, Socio-Cultural and Regional commonalities
  • South-South Co-operation and Solidarity
  • And Knowledge Sharing.

In this regard, it is hoped that the Diaspora Conference will emerge with the following outcomes:

  • concrete proposals on economic and trade links in specific areas and embarking on collaborative programmes on common areas of interest;
  • commitment to solidarity and mutual support in international for a;
  • the institutionalisation of the African-Caribbean co-operation and collaboration among government and civil society; and
  • the development of a common agenda for collaboration with the a view to furthering the objectives of the African Union


CONFERENCE PROGRAMME, South Africa, African Union, Caribbean Diaspora Conference, 16 - 18 March 2005

16 March 2005

Venue: Jamaica Conference Centre, Kingston, Jamaica

Chair: Senator Delano Franklyn, Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Jamaica

08h20-08h30 Opening Remarks: Chair

08h30-10h00 Opening Ceremony

Statement by the Honourable Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of South Africa (RSA)

Statement by the Honourable Mr. K.D. Knight
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Jamaica

Statement by His Excellency Mr. Patrick Mazimhaka, Deputy Chairperson: African Union (AU)

Official Opening Address by the Most Honourable P.J. Patterson, Prime Minister of Jamaica

Closing Remarks: Chair

Keynote Address

Chair: His Excellency Mr. Patrick Mazimhaka: Deputy Chairperson, AU Commission

Topic: Pan Africanism Revisited

10h30-11h30 Keynote address by the Honourable Dr. Pallo Jordan
Minister of Arts and Culture, RSA

Topic: Pan Africanism in the 21st Century: Its Relevance and Responses to Globalization.

11h30-13h00 Panel Discussion

Panelists: Professor Patte Diagne, Universite Cheick Anta Diop, Senegal
Professor Rupert Lewis, Professor, Department of Government, Faculty of Arts & Education, UWI, Mona Campus, Jamaica.

Discussion

14h30-18h00 PARALLEL WORKING GROUPS

Working Group 1: International Affairs, Peace and Security

The discussion will explore contemporary issues in international affairs focusing on asymmetrical power relations. The discussion should also analyze the inequality produced by uneven impact of globalization. Participants should be invited to develop a broader framework on issues of peace and security.

Chair: Dr Jessica Byron, Department of Government, Faculty of Social Sciences, UWI, Mona Campus, Jamaica. (tbc)

Panelists: Professor Margaret Vogt, Director, Bureau of the Chairperson of the AU Commission
Mr. Ndumiso Ntshinga, Deputy Director General, Department of Foreign Affairs, RSA
Honourable Minister Eumelio Caballero Rodriguez, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cuba.

Discussion

Working Group 2: The Report of the United Nations High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change

The discussion will focus of various aspects and implications of this report from the African and Caribbean perspectives

Chair: African Union

Panelists: Ambassador D. Kumalo, South Africa's Ambassador to the UN

Ambassador Cheick Sidi Diarra, Mali's Ambassador to the UN.
Ambassador Raymond Wolfe, Under Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Jamaica

Discussion


17 March 2005

08h00-13h00 PARALLEL WORKING GROUPS

Working Group 3: Democracy and Good Governance

The discussions will focus on the evolution of democracy in Africa and the Caribbean, drawing from the experiences of the earliest and latest democracies. Discussion will also focus on race, class, ethnicity and gender and their implications for effective nation building.

Chair: Ms. Julia Joiner: AU Commissioner for Political Affairs.

Panelists: Ms. Nomboniso Gasa, Independent Consultant, South Africa
Dr. Glenda Simms, Executive Director, Bureau of Women's Affairs, Office of the Prime Minister, Jamaica

Dr. Amany Asfour, President, Egyptian Business Women's Association

Discussion

Working Group 4: Regional Development and Integration

The discussion will analyze the effort of the African Union and the Caribbean states in building regional integration. The presentation will also investigate the role of NEPAD towards the attainment of an effective Continental integration.

Chair: Dr. Thami Mazwai, Chairperson, South African Chapter of the African Renaissance (SACAR), RSA

Panelists: Dr Denis Benn, Michael Manley Professor of Public Policy, UWI, Mona, Jamaica
Professor Allioune Sall, Executive Director, African Futures
Mr. Victor Mathale, RSA

Discussion

14h30-18h00 PARALLEL WORKING GROUPS

Working Group 5: Economic Cooperation and Trade links

The discussion will interrogate challenges relating to economic co-operation between South Africa/Africa and the Caribbean in the context of various other initiatives within and between the two regions and other economies. This discussion could include debt cancellation, reparations, the MDG agenda, as well as cooperation between Africa and the Caribbean in the democratization of the international financial and trade architecture.

Chair: Ms. Elizabeth Tankeu - AU Commissioner: Cooperation and Trade Links.

Panelists: Mr. Thami Sokutu, Businessman, RSA
Ms. Aisha Salemi Elhaji, Manager: Research and Studies, Libya Arab Bank
Ambassador Richard Bernal, Director General, Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM)

Discussion

Working Group 6: Historical, Socio-Cultural and Religious Commonalities
This discussion will address the nature and evolution of the social, cultural and religious relations and artistic heritages in South Africa, Africa and the Caribbean with a view to identifying areas of convergence and divergence as well as lessons from history.

Chair: Professor Vinesh Y. Hookomsing, Vice Chancellor, University of Mauritius

Panelists: Advocate Christina Qunta, RSA
Professor Maureen Warner-Lewis, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Humanities & Education, UWI, Mona Campus, Jamaica
Professor Adebayo Olukoshi, Executive Secretary, Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA)

Discussion

18 March 2005

08h00-12h00 PARALLEL WORKING GROUPS

Working Group 7: South-South Co-Operation and Solidarity

The discussion will look at the challenges relating to issues of development and poverty with specific focus on crime, HIV/Aids, transnational crime and narcotic trafficking, as well as environmental problems

Chair: Dr. Teboho Maitse, Commission on Gender Equality, South Africa, RSA

Panelists: Prof. Bernard Magubane, Director, South African Democracy Education Trust (SADET), RSA

Dr. Pamela Mbabazi, Dean, Faculty of Development Studies, Nabarara University, Uganda
Ms. Alison Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, Child Development Services, Ministry of Health, Jamaica

Discussion

Working Group 8: Knowledge Sharing

This discussion will address the nature of contemporary challenges related to the production, distribution and sharing of knowledge and information between South Africa/Africa and the Caribbean in the context of global trends and challenges. The should identify how the two regions ought to respond to the challenges and what strategies should be developed to address contemporary and future challenges with a view to enhancing the mutual interests of both regions. The following aspects should be considered:

a. the nature of the challenges posed by the production and distribution and utilisation of indigenous knowledge and information within and between the two regions.
b. the challenges posed by the production, distribution and utilisation of academic and scientific knowledge and information within both regions and between the two regions.
c. the challenges posed by the production, distribution of technical knowledge information and innovations with the aim of enhancing productivity, competitiveness and inclusive and equitable growth and development in light of the current global order and the opportunities and constraints that it poses.
d. The challenges posed by the monopolization of processes of global cultural exchange on the intellectual property of the people of Africa and the Caribbean.

Chair: Caribbean

Panelists: Professor Ade Abiodun, African Union
Ms Baleka Mbete, Speaker of the National Assembly, South African Parliament, South Africa
Dr. Hopeton Dunn, Jamaica South Africa Friendship Association (JASAYA) (tbc)

Discussion

12h00-13h00: Lecture

Chair: Professor Abdoulaye Bathily, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Senegal

Topic: Towards an African Century: Closer collaboration between Africa and the Caribbean in the conduct of International Relations:

Speaker: The Honourable Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines

14h30-16h00: Way Forward

Chair: Dr. Frene Ginwala, Former Speaker of the National Assembly, South African Parliament, RSA

Presenter: Dr. Eddy Maloka, Rapporteur-General

Adoption of the Declaration

16h30-17h30: CLOSING CEREMONY

Closing Statement by the Honourable Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Minister of Foreign Affairs, RSA

Closing Statement by the: His Excellency Mr. Patrick Mazimhaka, Deputy Chairperson of the AU

Closure: The Honourable K.D. Knight, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Jamaica

Issued by Ronnie Mamoepa at 082 990 4853

Department of Foreign Affairs
P/Bag X152
Pretoria
0001

13 March 2005


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