President Thabo Mbeki to lead South African delegation to the Inaugural IBSA Summit, Brazil

Pretoria - South African President Thabo Mbeki, supported by Foreign Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, will lead a senior South African delegation to the inaugural session Heads of State/Government Summit of the historic and strategic India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA) in Brasilia, Brazil on Wednesday 13 September 2006.

The IBSA Summit of Heads of State and Government will be preceded by a meeting of the three respective Foreign Ministers in Brasilia on 12 September, to which the SA delegation will be led by Minister Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.

President Mbeki will be joining his Brazilian and Indian counterparts President Lula da Silva and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh at the Summit. It is expected that several other South African Ministers will be part of President Mbeki’s delegation.

Since its formation in 2003, IBSA has become instrumental in promoting closer coordination on global issues between South Africa, India and Brazil as three large economies with a distinct cultures, non-racial, democratic yet developing countries.

This historic Summit is the culmination of three Ministerial Trilateral Joint Commission meetings that have taken place in New Delhi (2004), Cape Town (2005) and Rio de Janeiro (2006), respectively under the leadership of the respective Foreign Ministers including Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.
The main objectives of the IBSA Summit are:
 To deepen South-South dialogue and cooperation within the IBSA context;
 To intensify and enhance coordinated positions on issues of international importance;
 To promote the combination of the collective strengths of the three IBSA countries into complimentary synergies to the benefit of all three regions
 To further consolidate the three continents’ Southern regions on all levels;
 To further promote trade and investment opportunities and the development of new markets;
 To take stock of achievements so far in terms of the broad range of IBSA cooperation areas that would lead to technology, information and skills transfers, social development, poverty alleviation, job creation etc;
 To conclude Trilateral Agreements/Memoranda of Understanding on Transport, Agriculture, Energy, ICT and Trade Facilitation, and
 To issue a Joint Declaration between the three IBSA Heads of State/Government after concluding the Summit.

IBSA Business Summit
An important South African Business Delegation will also participate in an IBSA Business Summit scheduled for Tuesday 12 September 2006.

The Business Summit will focus their discussions on:
 An overview of Trade and Investment Opportunities in IBSA countries;
 A Comparative Study of the Investment Climate in IBSA countries; and
 Focus areas: Innovation and Technological Development; Infrastructure; Energy; Agricultural industry, Transportation; ICT; Banking and Finance.

IBSA Academic Seminar
Prominent South African academics will participate in a parallel IBSA Academic Seminar on 12 September 2006 during which they will discuss:
 Science/Technology/Innovation and Economic Co-operation;
 Public Policies and Social Development; and
 Democracy and Cultural Diversity.

It is expected that a number of South African Ministers will travel to Brazil to co-sign Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding with their Brazilian and Indian counterparts. These are Trilateral Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding on:
 Renewable Energies (Bio-fuels),
 Trade Facilitation for Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment,
 Maritime Transportation,
 Co-operation in Agriculture and Allied Fields; and
 Co-operation in the Information Society

Areas of trilateral cooperation that would receive special prominence during the IBSA Summit discussions are:
 Energy
 Transport
 Climate Change

IBSA has a number of Sectoral Working Groups in other areas such as: Agriculture; Culture; Defense, Education; Health; the Information Society; Science and Technology; Social Development; Trade and Investment and Tourism while other specialised sectoral Working Groups are under consideration.

The following IBSA funded projects – as part of poverty alleviation and enhancing South-South cooperation - are currently underway via the IBSA Facility Fund that is administered by the UNDP’s South-South Unit in New York:
 Africa: Guinea-Bissau (Development of Agriculture and Cattle Farming)
 Latin-America: Haiti (Collection of Solid Waste: A Tool to Reduce Violence and Conflicts in Carrefour Feuilles)
 Asia: Laos (The proposed project has not reached implementation stage)
 A project of possible support to the Palestine National Authority is also under consideration.

Bilateral trade statistics:

South Africa – Brazil (SA Rand)

Year SA Exports to SA imports from Total trade

2003 1,338,188,000 5,343,996,000 6,682,184,000
2004 1,562,499,000 6,413,675,000 7,976,174,000
2005 2,034,310,000 8,341,326,000 10,375,636,000
2006* 1,228,673,000 3,984,405,000 5,213,078,000

South Africa – India (SA Rand)

Year SA Exports to SA imports from Total trade

2003 3,350,322,000 3,126,148,000 6,476,470,000
2004 3,713,043,000 4,547,261,000 8,260,304,000
2005 7,393,783,000 7,029,784,000 14,423,567,000
2006* 2,344,718,000 3,899,165,000 6,243,883,000

2006* Period January to June 2006
Source: Department of Trade and Industry

Issued by Ronnie Mamoepa on 082 990 4853

℅ Department of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001

10 September 2006