We have detected that the browser you are using is no longer supported. As a result, some content may not display correctly.
We suggest that you upgrade to the latest version of any of the following browsers:
close notification
Pres
ident Thabo Mbeki will lead a team to a meeting of the United
Nations General Assembly on September 20, the foreign affairs
department said yesterday.
Several meetings and discussions being held in the run-up to that
summit would serve to consolidate positions on issues like
multilateralism and tensions in the Middle East, director-general
Ayanda Ntsaluba told reporters in Pretoria.
The first was a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (Nam) in Durban
on August 19, hosted by South Africa with the theme
"multilateralism for the 21st century". On the 18th, a special
committee dealing with Palestine would be meeting on the fringes of
the Nam gathering.
Ntsaluba said Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad would lead a team
to the Middle East towards the end of the month – visiting
Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Iran
and Egypt.
"We anticipate that there will be fairly robust reflection in the
course of the General Assembly in New York in September on issues
of the Middle East and quite clearly these consultations are
necessary to ensure that our positions that we take to New York are
as informed as possible."
On August 25 and 26, Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will
host her United Kingdom counterpart, Jack Straw, for a meeting of a
bi-national forum between their two countries. These talks were
also expected to "focus on anticipating the (UN) agenda,
particularly the issues around multi-lateralism".
On the General Assembly meeting itself, Ntsaluba said reform of the
UN was expected to be high on the agenda.
"Which is partly why we decided as South Africa to make the theme
of the Nam ministerial meeting focus on issues of
multilateralism".
Ntsaluba said Mbeki was also expected to attend a summit on
employment and poverty reduction in Burkina Faso in September.
– Sapa.