Mexico
15 July 2007
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 Under-Secretary 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 Under-Secretary of
Foreign Affairs Maria de Lourdes Aranda Bezaury on the domestic political and
socio-economic situation in South Africa which was reciprocated by
Under-Secretary 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 AfricaâSouth 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.
Under-Secretary 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 third 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 otherâ'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 (DRC), Burundi, Somalia and
Zimbabwe.
The Mexican delegation expressed an interest in supporting projects through
New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) and investigating trilateral
co-operation projects between South Africa, Mexico and third countries.
Under-Secretary Bezaury and Deputy Minister Pahad exchanged views on the
outcomes of the 2008 Group of Eight (G8) + 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 (G20)
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 Under-Secretary Bezaury also shared views on the
comprehensive reform of the United Nations (UN), 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 Under-Secretary Bezaury said that
they were both studying the document on the Transitional reform of the UN 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.
Contact:
Ronnie Mamoepa
Cell: 082 990 4853
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
15 July 2007
