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Programme for the Department of Foreign Affairs, Tuesday, 17
April 2007 Weekly briefing to media by Deputy Minister Aziz Pahad
Deputy
Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad will brief the media on current international issues
as follows: DATE : Tuesday 17 April 2007 TIME : 10h30
VENUE : Media Centre Amphitheatre
Union Buildings
Pretoria
(Please present press cards)
(Parking on Government Avenue) ENQUIRIES/RSVPs
: Manusha Pillai on 082 389 3587
Agreement on the Establishment
of Facility for Africa
South African Foreign Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini
Zuma and the Secretary General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) will
sign an Agreement on the Establishment of a Facility for Africa at the Presidential
Guesthouse in Pretoria on Tuesday 17 April 2007. The PCA was established
in 1899 in The Hague as the first global institution to promote the peaceful settlement
of disputes between States. South Africa became a Member State of the PCA in 1997
by acceding to the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes.
The PCA offers facilities, professional administration and expert guidance
with regard to four of the dispute settlement methods provided for in Article
33 of the UN Charter, namely enquiry, mediation, conciliation and arbitration.
Originally it focused only on the settlement of inter-State disputes, but has
since extended its facilities to cases involving non-State parties, and can consequently
now assist in settling disputes between a State and for example, a foreign investor.
The PCA has over the last decades experienced a considerable increase in caseload,
which now involves investment and contract disputes, maritime delimitation, international
boundaries, banking and finance, international humanitarian law and environmental
law. The advantage of using arbitration as a method of dispute settlement over
judicial proceedings is that the arbitration proceedings are cheaper and quicker,
more flexible and offer a greater degree of autonomy to the parties to the dispute
as they can choose the arbitrators and the rules and procedures to be applied.
In order to expand their services geographically, the PCA has opened a
Regional Facility for the Promotion of Dispute Resolution through the Mechanisms
of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Costa Rica in order to meet the demands
of the Latin American region. The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA)
expressed the desire to establish a Regional Facility for the Promotion of Dispute
Resolution through the Mechanisms of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in South
Africa to service the African continent. The Agreement provides for the establishment
of a Regional Facility for the Promotion of Dispute Resolution through the Mechanisms
of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in South Africa, to function on an ad hoc
basis. It is considered that the establishment of a Regional Facility for
Africa in South Africa will be a positive development, in view thereof that it
will offer an alternative way of dispute settlement besides judicial settlement
as offered by domestic and international courts, like the International Court
of Justice and the African Court of Justice. Media are invited for the
signing ceremony as follows: DATE : Tuesday 17 April 2007 TIME
: 15h30 for 16h00
VENUE : Presidential Guesthouse
Bryntirion
Estate
Church Street (Gate 9)
Pretoria
(Please present press cards)
(Please RSVP) ENQUIRIES/RSVPs : Manusha Pillai on 082 389 3587
Issued by Department of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001 16 April 2007 | 
