Foreign Minister Alfred Nzo will lead the Troika of Ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement (South Africa, Colombia and Bangladesh) in a meeting with the Foreign Ministers of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised countries in Cologne, Germany tomorrow. The meeting will take place on the eve of the G8 Summit in the same city.
On his arrival in Germany this morning, Minister Nzo said that South Africa would continue to work tirelessly to give effect to the mandate it had received at the Durban NAM Summit last year. This included the need to interact closely with the industrialised countries in an effort to eliminate the global inequalities among states, fully taking into account the interests of developing countries.
In order to give further effect to this mandate, Minister Nzo will carry a letter from President Nelson Mandela to the Chair of the G8, which addresses a number of pressing challenges facing the NAM and other developing countries. Minister Nzo will hand over this letter to his German counterpart, Joschka Fischer, who is the Chair of the G8 Ministerial Group.
The deliberations of the Ministers will culminate in the issuing of a joint Communique which will reflect their common understanding on the important international issues facing humanity on the eve of the new millennium.
DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
PRETORIA
9 JUNE 1999