India-Brazil-South Africa Foreign Ministers Meet ahead of IBSA
Summit
Brasilia - South African Foreign Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma
will on Tuesday 12 September 2006 join her counterparts from Brazil and India,
Foreign Ministers Celso Amorim and Manmoham Singh respectively, in the India-Brazil-South
Africa (IBSA) Foreign Ministers meeting in Brasilia.
The Foreign Ministers'
meeting forms part of preparations for the forthcoming IBSA Summit which will
be attended by President Thabo Mbeki, President Lula da Silva and Prime Minister
Dr Manmohan Singh scheduled for Wednesday 13 September.
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.
Minister Dlamini Zuma is part of President
Mbeki's delegation which includes Ministers Mandisi Mpahlwa, Buyelwa Sonjica and
Jeff Radebe, Foreign Affairs Director-General Dr. Ayanda Ntsaluba and a large
business 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.
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.
A number of agreements are expected to be
signed including 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
