Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma to host the Fifth India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Ministerial Commission Meeting

9 May 2008

South African Foreign Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma will on Sunday, 11 May 2008 host her counterparts from India and Brazil, Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee and the Minister of External Relations Celso Amorim respectively on the occasion of the 5th IBSA Ministerial Trilateral Commission Meeting at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West, Western Cape.

Minister Dlamini Zuma will host the Fifth IBSA Ministerial Trilateral Commission within the context of South Africa's efforts to strengthen strategic trilateral political, economic and trade relations between Brazil, India and South Africa with a view to strengthening South-South co-operation.

In this regard, the Fifth IBSA Ministerial Trilateral Commission Meeting will coincide with the First IBSA Joint Naval Exercises (IBSAMAR) off the Cape coast from 5 to 16 May 2008.

Since its inception in 2003, the IBSA Dialogue Forum has made significant progress in providing an influential international platform from where the development challenges of the South could be prioritised and the marginalisation of developing countries countered. The Ministerial Meeting is expected, amongst others, to:

* Reflect on global multilateral issues such as global governance; the Millennium Development Goals; International Trade; Intellectual Property Rights; Climate Change; Biodiversity; Sustainable Development; Racism and Xenophobia; Gender; Disarmament and Non-proliferation; Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy, as well as regional political issues of global importance.

* Review progress made within sectoral co-operation since the fourth Ministerial Meeting held in New Delhi on 17 July 2007 and the second Summit held in Tshwane on 17 October 2007. To date, 16 trilateral Working Groups have been established in the areas of Agriculture; Energy; Information Society; Trade and Investment; Transport; Culture; Education; Health; Social Development; Public Administration; Revenue and Administration; Defence; Science and Technology; Tourism; Climate Change and Environment; and Human Settlement. The Ministerial meeting will also consider new areas of co-operation.

* Evaluate existing projects under the IBSA Facility Fund for Poverty Alleviation and Hunger, as well as to consider new project proposals. To date, two projects in Haiti and Guinea Bissau have been implemented successfully. Projects in Cape Verde; Laos People's Democratic Republic; Burundi; Palestine; and Timor-Leste are under consideration for IBSA funding.

* Reflect on people–to–people participation within IBSA. In this connection, the IBSA Women's Forum will meet on the margins of the Fifth Ministerial on 9 May 2008. The First Lady, Mrs Zanele Mbeki and the Minister of Public Works, H.E. Thoko Didiza are expected to participate in the Women's Forum meeting. The first meeting of the trilateral steering committee of IBSA business leaders is expected to meet on 9 May 2008 to discuss issues such as south-south connectivity; a Business Travel Pass Scheme, amongst others.

* The Ministerial will also reflect on preparations for the Third IBSA Summit that is scheduled to take place in New Delhi, India on 15 October 2008. The Third IBSA Summit is expected to focus on the development of an integrated social developmental strategy for IBSA.

At the last IBSA Summit in 2007, the Heads of State and government set a target of increasing IBSA intra trade to US$15 billion by 2010. Recent statistics on total IBSA trade are reflected in figure 1 - see http://www.dfa.gov.za.

Media programme for the Fifth IBSA Ministerial Commission Meeting

Sunday, 11 May 2008

09h00: Arrival of Media ahead of the Opening Plenary Session: Fifth IBSA Ministerial Commission
Venue: Ballroom, Lord Charles Hotel, Somerset West, Cape Town

10h00: Opening Plenary Session: Fifth IBSA Ministerial Commission

Welcoming remarks by Minister Dlamini Zuma
Opening remarks by Minister Amorim
Opening remarks by Minister Mukherjee

Presentation of progress reports by various People-to-People representatives (Media in attendance)

11h30: Arrival of media ahead of press conference by Minister Dlamini Zuma, Minister Mukherjee and Minister Amorim
Venue: Ballroom, Lord Charles Hotel, Somerset West, Cape Town

12h30: Press conference

Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
9 May 2008

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