Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane to attend the 6th India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Trilateral Ministerial Commission Meeting in Brasilia, Brazil, from 31 August – 1 September 2009

Pretoria – International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana - Mashabane will, today 30 August 2009, depart South Africa to attend the 6th IBSA Trilateral Ministerial Commission Meeting in Brasilia, Brazil, from 31 August to 1 September 2009. H.E. Celso Amorim, Minister of External Relations of the Federative Republic of Brazil, will be the host, and H.E. S.M. Krishna, Minister of External Relations of the Republic of India will also be in attendance.  Minister Nkoana-Mashabane will also hold bilateral discussions with her Brazilian counterpart and pay a courtesy call on Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The 6th IBSA Trilateral Ministerial Commission Meeting will focus, amongst others, on strengthening IBSA’s role and visibility in global governance, particularly with regard to the UN system, OECD, WTO, G20, reform of the Bretton Woods Institutions and Climate Change negotiations.  Ideas will also be exchanged on how to achieve synergy and co-ordination between IBSA and the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) Grouping as the two formations share similar global agendas.  

The Ministerial will also reflect on preparations for the 4th IBSA Summit that is scheduled to take place in Brasilia, Brazil on 08 October 2009.   A number of people-to-people fora will participate on the margins of the Summit, namely: Women’s Forum, Business Forum, Academic Forum, Editors Forum, Constitutional Courts and the Parliamentary Forum.

At the 3rd IBSA Summit held in New Delhi, India, on 15 and 16 October 2008, it was decided that IBSA would engage in Outreach programmes with countries both from the North and the South.  The upcoming IBSA Trilateral Ministerial Commission meeting will discuss the modalities for such Outreach programmes.  Since the formation of IBSA, the member states have been approached on various occasions by non-IBSA countries requesting IBSA to create a mechanism for them to interact with IBSA.

Currently, all three IBSA member states donate US$ 1 million each per annum to the IBSA Facility Fund for the Alleviation of Poverty and Hunger (IBSA Trust Fund).  The Trilateral Ministerial Commission meeting will review the implementation of the projects in Haiti (collection of solid waste), Guinea-Bissau (agriculture project), Lao PDR (integrated watershed management system), Burundi (HIV/AIDS), Cape Verde (health care infrastructure and water desalination), Palestine (construction of multi-purpose sports complex) and Cambodia (children with special needs).  A number of new projects have been identified and for South Africa it is important that future projects should focus on post-conflict reconstruction.

The Trilateral Ministerial Commission meeting will also be used to exchange views on the global situation, including areas of tension and conflict in Latin-America, Africa, the Middle East and South and South-East Asia.  Minister Nkoana-Mashabane will use the opportunity to brief her counterparts on, amongst others, the current situation in Zimbabwe, the Great Lakes Region, Madagascar, the Sudan and the current state of play with regard to African integration.  
At the 3rd IBSA Summit held in New Delhi, India in 2008, the Heads of State and Government set a target of increasing trilateral trade to US$25 billion by 2015.  The three Ministers will review progress and exchange views on how to accelerate efforts to reach the target, particularly against the backdrop of the global economic recession.     

The latest statistics on RSA & IBSA trade are as follows:



For more information contact Nomfanelo Kota on 082 459 3787.

Issued by Department of International Relations and Co-operation
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001

30 August 2009.