President Jacob Zuma to lead South African Delegation to the 4th IBSA Summit in Brazil, 15 April 2010.

Upon conclusion of the Nuclear Security Summit underway in Washington D.C., His Excellency President Jacob Zuma will proceed to Brazil to lead the South African delegation to the India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA) Fourth Summit scheduled to take place on 15 April 2010 in Brasilia, Brazil.

The 4th IBSA Summit has historic significance in that it will be the last Summit where one of the original founding Heads of State/Government, i.e. President Lula da Silva will preside over proceedings.  It is further significant in that, for the first time, a joint BRIC/IBSA Business Forum will be hosted where business delegations from Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa will join together to discuss issues related to commercial interests of these major emerging economies with a view to further integration and strengthening their commercial ties.  President Lula da Silva will also host a joint dinner for IBSA and BRIC Heads of State/Government on the evening of 15 April 2010.

South Africa participates in the IBSA Summit within the context of deepening South-South cooperation as one of the mechanisms to advance the interests of the developing countries on the global stage. Accordingly the 4th IBSA Summit will focus, among others, on the following key areas:

• To promote sectoral cooperation through concluding and finalising proposed agreements/strategies and to further deepen such cooperation through increased understanding and exchanges and to ensure that such cooperation is aligned to the government’s priority areas to derive tacit benefit for the people of South Africa through increased implementation of such cooperation ventures.
• To leverage the opportunities offered through IBSA in terms of political and economic cooperation, i.e. to share and benefit from best practice to address similar socio- economic challenges and to continue to achieve economic growth among the IBSA countries.
• To maintain and further strengthen IBSA countries and their regional influence and prominence in global affairs, especially regarding the current debates to reform the global political and financial architecture.  Brazil is currently serving as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and India and South Africa have also put forward their candidatures for UNSC non-permanent seats for the period 2011 - 2012.
• To consolidate and further strengthen South-South cooperation to maximise benefit for all developing countries.
• To reflect the voice of the South, in the aftermath of the international financial crisis to also reinforce the positions of the G20, as well as considering in the aftermath of the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change, the impact of climate change on various countries of the South through natural disasters, etc. 

In addition to the Heads of State and Government Summit parallel people to people events will take place as follows:

• Academic Forum: 13-14 April 2010 in Brasilia (themes such as social development strategies for inclusive growth, health innovation and IBSA as a plurilateralism initiative).
• 1st Joint BRIC/IBSA Business Forum: 14 April 2010 in Rio de Janeiro (themes that Ministers from BRIC/IBSA countries will address include: energy, information technology, infrastructure, food industry and agribusiness- round table meetings will be organised on 13-14 April)
• Parliamentary Forum: 13-15 April 2010 in Brasilia (themes proposed include gender equality, women’s right and participation in the economic, political and social development of the three countries; Legislatives role in promoting commercial exchanges and investments)
• Women’s Forum: 14-15 April 2010 in Brasilia (themes proposed include violence against women: problems and challenges; and consequences of the impact of the global financial crisis on the lives of women of India, Brazil and South Africa)
• Editors’ Forum: 14 April 2010 in Brasilia (with the support of the International Press Service, the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth and the World Bank/BIRD
• Small business Forum: 14 April 2010 in Brasilia (SEDA CEO invited to reaffirm importance of small business and entrepreneurship)
• Local governance Forum: 14th April 2010, Brasilia (IBSA Round Table – “Developing Metropolis: Overcoming Common Challenges through South-South Cooperation”)

Six IBSA Ministerial Trilateral Commission meetings have taken place so far in New Delhi (2004), Cape Town (2005), Rio de Janeiro (2006), New Delhi (2007) and Somerset West (May 2008), Brasilia (2009).

Since its formation IBSA has established seventeen (17) sectoral working groups as follows:

Agriculture; Arts and Culture; Communication; Defence; Education; Energy; Environment; Human Settlement; Health; Information Society; Public Service and Administration (DPSA); Revenue Administration (SARS); Science and Technology; Social Development; Transport; Trade and Investment (DTI); and Tourism.

The 1st IBSA Summit took place in Brasilia on 13 September 2006 and the 2nd Summit in Tshwane on 17 October 2007 and the 3rd Summit in New Delhi on 15 October 2008. 

The 5th IBSA Summit is expected to take place in South Africa in 2011.

President Jacob Zuma is expected to return to South Africa on 16 April 2010.

For more information contact Chief Director for Public Diplomacy, Mr. Mahlatsi Mminele on 082 8899 432

Issued by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation
Private Bag x152
Pretoria.
0001

13 April 2010