Deputy Ministers Pahad and Moleketi Conclude Visit to Mexico

South African Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad, and Deputy Finance Minister Jabu Moleketi, on Saturday 14 July 2007 concluded their official visit to Mexico.

Deputy Minister Pahad on Friday 13 July 2007 held bilateral political, economic and trade relations with the Mexican Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Maria de Lourdes Aranda Bezaury.

Deputy Minister Moleketi held discussions with his counterpart Under Secretary of Finance Dr Alejandro Werner, Gustavo Martin del Campo, adviser to the President of the National Sports Commission; and representatives of the Mexican Football Association.

Deputy Minister Pahad´s Political Consultations

Deputy Minister Pahad thoroughly briefed his counterpart Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Maria de Lourdes Aranda Bezaury on the domestic political and socio-economic situation in South Africa which was reciprocated by Undersecretary Bezaury.

The South African and Mexican delegations concluded that there were many similarities in the developmental challenges experienced by both South Africa and Mexico, inter alia, underdevelopment, poverty, unemployment, lack of skills capacity, inadequate infrastructure to deal with a rapidly expanding city as well as the need for fiscal reform, and to share experiences in order to assist each other deal with these challenges.

Indeed, Deputy Minister Pahad expressed that South Africa and Africa had much to learn from the Latin American region as a whole since it had many more years of experience in the processes of development following decolonisation while the 50th anniversary of Ghana's independence commemorated in 2007 showed that Africa had only 50 years of experience in this regard.

Deputy Minister recalled the first Africa - South America Summit held in Abuja, Nigeria in November 2007 and indicated that both delegations should attempt to synergise the outcomes of this Summit for the benefit and development of the peoples of both continents in general and Mexico and South Africa in particular. The 2008 Summit will be hosted by Venezuela.

Undersecretary Bezaury highlighted the new policy towards Africa that has been adopted by Mexico and shared the views of Deputy Minister Pahad.

On the bilateral political and economic relations, both sides agreed to look at ways in which to co-operate on projects relating to low cost housing, construction, mining, the environment, biotechnology, science and technology, health and energy.

Both sides also agreed to do more to increase the bilateral trade and investment figures between both countries. However, Deputy Minister did express confidence that since South Africa is the 3rd largest investor in Mexico it would only be a matter of time before the bilateral trade and investment relations reflect those of the political relations. Both sides agreed to encourage, under the auspices of the relevant institutions, the exchange of trade missions to facilitate an understanding of and exposure to each other's economies.

The South African and Mexican authorities also agreed to encourage the promotion of tourism in their countries.

Deputy Minister Pahad briefed his Mexican counterpart thoroughly on progress towards achieving the African agenda including the recently concluded Grand Debate towards a Union Government in Africa and peace, security and conflict resolution on the African continent, inter alia, Sudan and Darfur, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Somalia and Zimbabwe.

The Mexican delegation expressed an interest in supporting projects through NEPAD and investigating trilateral co-operation projects between South Africa, Mexico and third countries.

Undersecretary Bezaury and Deputy Minister Pahad exchanged views on the outcomes of the 2008 Group of 8 (G-8) + 5 Summit held in Heiligenndam in Germany at the beginning of June 2007. The +5 group consists of South Africa, Mexico, India, Brazil and China, all of whom belong to the Group of 20 (G-20) that is currently chaired by South Africa.

Both delegations indicated that membership of such multilateral fora seeking to consolidate the development agenda of the South implied that both countries were indeed strategic partners and should seek more frequent and varied bilateral exchanges including of reciprocal visits to both countries. Both sides agreed the most urgent issues requiring attention and synergy would be that of climate change and the fight against poverty and underdevelopment. Deputy Minister Pahad reiterated that should global warming continue unabated all indications are that Africa would suffer the most serious consequences thereof.

Deputy Minister Pahad and Undersecretary Bezaury also shared views on the comprehensive reform of the United Nations, including the Security Council and financial institutions while Deputy Minister Pahad also briefed the Mexican delegation on South Africa's first six months in the Security Council. Undersecretary Bezaury briefed Deputy Minister Pahad of Mexico's Presidency of the Human Rights Council in 2006.

In this regard Deputy Minister Pahad and Undersecretary Bezaury said that they were both studying the document on the Transitional reform of the United Nations on which a debate will begin in New York during the following week. Both sides agreed that the Security Council should, in the interests of strengthening multilateralism, remain seized with matters related to international peace and security while all other matters should be handled by the relevant multilateral institutions.

Deputy Minister Moleketi's Consultations

Deputy Minister Moleketi briefed his counterpart Under Secretary of Finance Dr Alejandro Werner of South Africa's domestic challenges and achievements.

Undersecretary Werner briefed Deputy Minister Moleketi of Mexico's implementation of reforms particularly in the area of fiscal policy. Deputy Minister Moleketi indicated that since 1994 South Africa had also implemented a number of reforms in the area of fiscal policy to increase the efficiency in the distribution of funds between the central and provincial governments as means of addressing the development challenges inherited from the previous political system. Accordingly South Africa and Mexico would explore further co-operation in this regard.

The South African and Mexican delegations agreed to collaborate more closely in the areas of mutual interest with specific focus on reforms in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank with a view to increasing the voice and participation of developing countries.

In discussions with Gustavo Martin del Campo, adviser to the President of the National Sports Commission and representatives of the Mexican Football Association, Deputy Minister Moleketi discussed South Africa's preparations towards the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup and the ways in which Mexico and South Africa could co-operate to ensure the success of the World Cup.

It was agreed that there would be a regular exchange of information between South Africa and the soccer fraternity in Mexico to ensure the Mexican population is updated on progress towards preparations while simultaneously allying concerns that South Africa would not be ready and able to host a successful 2010 World Cup.

Deputy Ministers Pahad and Moleketi will depart from Mexico later today Saturday 14 July 2007 ahead of their official visit to Madrid, Spain.

Issued by Ronnie Mamoepa on 082 990 4853

Department of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001

15 July 2007