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Compiled by the Government Communication and Information System --------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 07 Dec 2006 Title: World trade, global security on agenda of President Mbeki's US visit --------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------- The future of World Trade Organisation talks and international security issues will be key items on the agenda when President Thabo Mbeki and United States President George Bush meet in Washington on Friday, writes Shaun Benton. South Africa's role on the United Nations Security Council will also be discussed within the context of international security, Presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga told BuaNews from Washington ahead of the president's arrival. "The meeting takes place hot on the heels of South Africa's election to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)," said Mr Ratshitanga. Discussions around this would have "the objective of sustaining cooperation with the United States on a whole range of international security issues." South Africa assumes its non permanent seat on the UNSC on 1 January and will hold the position until 2009. The discussions would not be limited to the international fight against terrorism which, Ratshitanga said, has remained a perennial concern of Mr Bush throughout his presidency and moreso after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US. President Mbeki, on the other hand, has consistently sought to locate international security issues within the context of global development, or lack of development, arguing that poverty and underdevelopment undermine international peace and security. This is an argument also favoured by outgoing UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan and made clear in a key report on the issue released by his office last year, called "In larger freedom: towards development, security and human rights for all". In this report, Mr Annan urged heads of state to commit themselves to "implementing a new security consensus based on the recognition that threats are interlinked, that development, security and human rights are mutually interdependent, that no State can protect itself acting entirely alone and that all States need an equitable, efficient and effective collective security system." President Mbeki has quoted these remarks on numerous occasions, most recently in his address to delegates attending the launch of the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report in Cape Town last month. It was at the launch of this report, titled Beyond Scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis, that President Mbeki said: "Clearly, development and security complement and mutually reinforce each other. It is clear that one simply cannot be achieved without the other, and neither is sustainable without respect for human rights, which empowers individuals and communities with the freedom to make better choices." It is likely, then, that this perspective on international security will inform at least part of the discussions at the White House on Friday. The meeting between President Mbeki and President Bush also comes in a week when the United States' ambassador to the UN John Bolton, seen in diplomatic circles as a controversial figure, resigned because of his inability to get US Senate backing for his post at a time when the US Democratic Party has just taken control of the Senate and the US House of Representatives. This changing environment of US domestic politics and the level of uncertainty hanging over the world's most important multilateral forum - regardless of views on its potency or otherwise - with the departure at the end of this month of Mr Annan after 10 years at the helm of the UN, would no doubt add to the importance of the discussions between the two presidents in forging a consensus and sense of direction on the issues under discussion in the years to come. That is because both fulfill roles that are to varying extents influential in the arena of so-called North-South cooperation, the promotion of which would provide a further context to the talks, as Ronnie Mamoepa, spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs, indicated earlier this week. Linked to this is also the future of the Doha development round of the World Trade Organisation, with President Bush currently wielding a "fast-track mandate" to quickly cement US agreement to a deal should one be finally struck. Under the "fast-track" provision, the US Congress waives the right to amend any trade deals negotiated under the authority of the US president. However, this provision expires in July next year, with many experts and observers sceptical as to whether the US Congress will renew the president's fast-track mandate. This effectively gives the Doha development round a deadline, and with the talks currently in what could be described as a state of coma having not been effectively resuscitated since they all but collapsed in December, the urgency of a revival and completion is being felt by the developing countries - African countries not least - crying out for a more equitable trade deal. The US president in June reportedly acknowledged that a failed Doha round "would be a missed opportunity" and reiterated that he is committed to reaching an agreement over global trade, if only through the sheer hard work of the negotiators involved. One leading economist with extensive experience in international trade issues told BuaNews he believes President Mbeki will emphasise to President Bush that Africa needs a favourable settlement to the Doha round because, if not settled now, "the issues will hang around for a long time". On the other hand, a consensus on global trade would contribute to a more stable trading environment, bringing some semblance of stability to a world already struggling to cope with the global insecurities, compounded by the powerful ripple effects of continuing crises in the oil-producing Middle East. Failure to deliver a deal on the Doha development round will thus deny the world the possibility of achieving a stability - a coherent trade regime that will bring some economic stability - that is more easily within reach. Two weeks ago, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad urged the developed countries to begin renewed WTO negotiations - should they restart - "a little more constructively and work towards finding a solution that's in the interests of all, and not just to protect narrow self-interest". Now, more than ever, political will is needed from the developed countries to move the Doha round further, Mr Pahad said. The recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam, also attended by President Bush, has given a renewed impetus for restarting the Doha round discussions, and should they pick up again this will coincide with South Africa's chairmanship of the G20 - a forum of developing and developed countries that discusses the world financial system and which plays a key role in world trade negotiations - under the stewardship of Finance Minister Trevor Manuel next year. South Africa will be placing international financial stability, aligned to trade talks, on the agenda of the G20 as "a global public good", Mr Manuel said two months ago. Lastly, there will be the bilateral issues that both presidents may raise at the key meeting, said Mr Ratshitanga. Although trade with the United States is less than that with the European Union, South Africa's largest trading partner, the volumes with the US remain high. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), trade between the two countries "is approaching R60 billion with an annual increase of approximately 11 per cent". At the same time, South Africa has been a major recipient of development assistance from the US Agency for International Development, with the DFA saying that activities under partnerships with with USAID will by the end of this year reach over 800 000 individuals with basic services, with capital investment standing at about R40 million. - BuaNews |
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