President Zuma concludes working visit to Brazil

17 April 2010

President Jacob Zuma concluded his working visit to the Brazilian capital Brasilia on Friday, 16 April 2010, where he was attending the fourth India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) Summit, which brings together the heads of state and government of India, Brazil and South Africa.

The IBSA Dialogue Forum was launched in September 2003, the first Ministerial Trilateral Commission was held in Delhi in 2004 and the first summit of heads of state and government was held in Brasilia in 2006.

Since its formation, IBSA has become an important forum for south to south cooperation. Through 17 working groups, covering areas like agriculture, communication, defence, energy, human settlement, transport, trade and others, the three countries have collaborated to advance economic and social development in their respective countries.

The countries have also worked together on multilateral issues, most recently at the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, where, together with China, the IBSA countries were pivotal in securing agreement on the Copenhagen accord.

The IBSA Summit was held on Thursday, 15 April 2010 at the Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia, beginning with a meeting of President Zuma, President Lula da Silva of Brazil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India. This was followed by a plenary session at which the leaders received reports from a number of IBSA sectoral fora, including academics, editors, business, local government, women, parliament and small business. They also received a report of the sixth Ministerial Trilateral Commission.

In a declaration released after the summit, the leaders agreed to further strengthen cooperation in promoting the interests of the developing world. They agreed to work together towards reform of the United Nations, specifically the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to make it more democratic and consistent with the priorities of developing countries.

They reaffirmed the need to reform multilateral financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, particularly in the aftermath of the global economic crisis. They also agreed to continue their work towards the achievement of an ambitious, legally binding agreement to combat climate change at the next meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) taking place in Mexico in December.

The countries reaffirmed their commitment to each contribute one million United States dollars a year to the IBSA Trust Fund, which has been used to support poverty alleviation projects in a number of developing countries. This includes support to projects in Haiti, Palestine, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau.

On Thursday, 15 April, President Zuma held a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao who was in Brazil for a meeting of the Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) group of countries. The meeting discussed the strengthening trade and investment links between China and South Africa.

In 2009, China became South Africa's largest export destination with exports to China growing even in the midst of a global recession. The meeting also discussed the upgrading of the strategic partnership between the two countries ahead of President Zuma's visit to China later this year. President Zuma wished China success with the hosting of the Shanghai 2010 World Exposition and reaffirmed South Africa's commitment to participate in the exposition.

President Zuma also held a bilateral meeting with President Lula da Silva on Thursday. The leaders expressed satisfaction with the growth in bilateral trade. In 2008 total trade between Brazil and South Africa reached United States $2 billion.

Relations between the two countries are expected to be further strengthened through a strategic partnership agreement, which will be discussed at the fourth meeting of the joint commission between South Africa and Brazil due to take place in South Africa in May 2010.

President Zuma has invited President Lula to undertake a state visit to South Africa in July 2010, which will coincide with the final and the closing ceremony of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup. The fifth IBSA Summit will be held in South Africa in October 2011.

Issued by: The Presidency
17 April 2010