Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
Attention: News Editors
MEDIA STATEMENT ON THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, MR AZIZ PAHAD'S ATTENDANCE OF THE SECOND SADC-MERCOSUR CONFERENCE, WHICH WILL BE HELD IN SAO PAULO, THE FEDERATIVE REPUBLIC OF BRAZIL FROM 23 TO 26 OCTOBER 2000
The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. A. Pahad, will attend the Second SADC-MERCOSUR Conference, scheduled to take place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from 23 to 26 October 2000. Mr. Pahad will also address the Conference on" Regional Integration, Globalisation and Democratic Stability: A South-South Perspective".
Deputy Minister Pahad's attendance of, and address to the Conference will further enhance and positively contribute to the dialogue between Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Mercado Comun del Sur (MERCOSUR); Common Market of the Southern Cone in order to promote inter-regional trade and general cooperation with South Africa' s partners in the South. Political and economic cooperation with our neighbours across the South Atlantic is an important component of economic growth, not only for South Africa and SADC but also for Africa.
In addition to Deputy Minister Pahad, various high level speakers from both the SADC and MERCOSUR regions will address the Conference on topics such as "Politics and the Economy: Recent Developments and Outlook in SADC and MERCOSUR, Shared Regional Challenges and Towards a South Atlantic Free Trade Area? The Business, Trade and Investment Dimensions.
It is hoped that the conference will build and explore new dimensions in the SADC-MERCOSUR relationship, and is intended as a follow-up to the First Conference which was held in Johannesburg in 1998, on the initiative of the Ambassadors of MERCOSUR countries in Pretoria (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and associate member Chile. The focus of the Conference will be on the perspectives of developing inter-regional forms of association, specifically in the commercial and economic fields, while aiming to advance the agenda of co-operation between the two regional blocks (SADC and MERCOSUR) that may eventually lead to freer and more intense trade and investment flows across the South Atlantic.
The Conference is jointly organised by the South African Institute for International Affairs (SAIIA), Council of Latin American Business Leaders (CEAL), the Institute of Economic, Social and Political Studies of Sao Paulo (IDESP) as well as the MERCOSUR Ambassadors to South Africa.
MERCOSUR was instituted by means of the Treaty of Asuncion signed on March 26, 1991, between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. It arises from a bilateral trade treaty signed between Argentina and Brazil in 1986 and the expansion of this agreement in July 1990 to form a free trade zone
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT DUMISANI RASHELENG
OFFICE NO. (012) 351 0067 / 0128
CELL NO. 083 709 8166
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
PRIVATE BAG X152
Pretoria
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