Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
MEDIA STATEMENT ON MINISTER NZO'S ATTENDANCE OF GROUP OF 77 & CHINA IN BALI, INDONESIA
Foreign Minister Alfred Nzo called for enhanced coordination between the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the Group of 77 & China so as to enable the developing world to deal more effectively with the processes of globalisation and liberalisation.
Minister Nzo was speaking in his capacity as Chair of the NAM, during the opening ceremony of the Group of 77 High Level Conference on Regional and Sub-regional Economic Cooperation in Bali, Indonesia today. In his address Minister Nzo pointed out that the conference was taking place at a time of great change in the international financial and economic environment in which developing countries were finding it increasingly difficult to adapt.
Minister Nzo emphasised that the developing world needed to face these challenges in a proactive manner and in so doing improve the cooperation between the two groupings of developing countries, the NAM and the Group of 77 & China. Minister Nzo reminded the Conference that, in line with the Durban Declaration of the 12th NAM Summit earlier this year, developing countries should use regional and sub-regional integration schemes to enhance their capacity to participate in the global economy. The four day conference will address the following three themes: regional and sub-regional economic cooperation and the challenges of globalisation and liberalisation; strengthening linkages between and among regional and subregional economic arrangements; and South-South cooperation in the next millennium.
ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS PRETORIA 2 DECEMBER 1998