Rice ahead of handover ceremony of the Chairpersonship of the Group of 77 (G77)
+ China in New York
8 January 2007
Washington � South African Foreign Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma,
today, Monday, 8 January 2007 concluded her visit to Washington where she held
bilateral discussions with her US counterpart Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice ahead of the handover ceremony of the G77+ China scheduled for Wednesday,
10 January in New York.
The bilateral discussions between Minister Dlamini Zuma and Secretary of
State Dr Rice was a follow up to discussions held between President Thabo Mbeki
and President George Bush held in Washington in December 2006.
In this regard, discussions between Minister Dlamini Zuma and Secretary of
State Dr Rice focused on forthcoming issues in the United Nations (UN) Security
Council, including the situation in Sudan, and developments in the Middle East
and Iran. This comes within the context of South Africa�s recent assumption of
the non-permanent seat of the UN Security Council.
On Wednesday, Minister Dlamini Zuma supported by Foreign Affairs
Director-General Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba, Deputy Director-General George Nene and
South Africa�s Permanent Representative to the UN, Dumisani Kumalo, will
participate in the UN ceremony in which South Africa will be handing over the
Chairpersonship of the G77 + China to the Pakistani Foreign Minister.
The ceremony will be attended by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, President
of the UN General Assembly Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, Secretary-General of
the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Supachia
Panitchpakdi and Kemal Davis, the Administrator of the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP).
The G77 is the largest coalition of developing countries in the United
Nations, which provides a platform for the countries of the South to articulate
and promote their collective economic interests and enhance their joint
negotiating capacity on all major international economic and development issues
in the United Nations system, promote South-South co-operation and strengthen
economic and technical co-operation among developing countries themselves.
During its tenure as Chairperson of the G77 + China in 2006, South Africa
was committed to enhancing the position of the Group as a constructive and
responsible partner in promoting North-South relations, in support of the
development agenda of the South. As Chair, South Africa engaged with the broad
membership of the Group in order to generate consensus on potentially divisive
issues, in addition to engaging with the development partners on a daily basis
to promote and protect the mandate received form the Group.
The context in which South Africa chaired the G77 and China during 2006 was
an unprecedented one in terms of the number of important new issues that the
Group dealt with as part of the international debate on the need to reform the
UN and make it a stronger and more effective organisation. As a consequence of
South Africa�s efforts during the last year, the G77 and China has managed to
generate new levels of preparedness, cohesion and solidarity within its
ranks.
Minister Dlamini Zuma returns to SA on Thursday, 11 January ahead of the
funeral of the late SA�s High Commissioner to Namibia, Tim Maseko and the
African National Congress� (ANC�s) 95th Anniversary celebration in Witbank,
Mpumalanga.
For further information, please contact:
Ronnie Mamoepa
Cell: 082 990 4853
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
8 January 2007
