Minister Dlamini Zuma to Lead South African Delegation to Nordic-African Informal Consultations, Helsinki, Finland Thursday, 13 - Friday, 14 January 2005

Pretoria - South African Foreign Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma will, today Tuesday, 11 January 2005 depart for Helsinki, Finland where she will lead the South African delegation to the fourth session of the Nordic - African Information Consultations from Thursday - Friday, 13-14 January 2005.

It is expected the participants in the Consultations will include representatives from: Benin, Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Mali, Senegal, Nigeria, Tanzania, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, and Denmark.

Discussions will include, among others:

· Peace and security architecture in Africa and current challenges;
· Strengthening human rights, democracy and governance to promote development and prevent conflicts;
· The implementation of NEPAD including the operationalisation of the African Peer Review Mechanism;
· The reform of the global exercise of governance, viz, the United Nations and all its institutions including the Security Council, the International Monetary Fund.

Issued by Ronnie Mamoepa on 082 990 4853
Department of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001
11 January 2005