International relations

Zuma leads SA team to Davos

25 January 2010

South African President Jacob Zuma has left for the World Economic Forum taking place in Davos, Switzerland this week, accompanied by several government ministers and a high-level business delegation.

Travelling ministers include include Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, National Planning Minister Trevor Manuel, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies and Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica, as well as other senior government officials.

Global governance system

Organised under the theme "Improve the State of the World: Rethink Redesign and Rebuild," this year's annual meeting - which runs from 27 to 31 January - comes within the context of promoting a global system of governance.

"The pressure to rethink, redesign and rebuild has increased along with concern over the current state of the world financial markets," the Department of International Relations and Cooperation said in a statement this week.

"The fiscal and monetary prescriptions to ease the pain of global economic shocks are now fuelling anxieties about the creation of new economic bubbles."

Moreover, the department said, the demographic, behavioural and technological changes linked to the collapse in global demand were challenging basic assumptions about the nascent recovery.

According to the department, weaknesses of governance systems, exposed by the financial crisis, are mostly unchanged with respect to looming global risks such as climate change, nuclear proliferation and pandemic.

Global redesign initiative

Redesign discussions in Davos will leverage on the ongoing work of the forum's Global Redesign Initiative, an unprecedented multi-stakeholder dialogue focusing on adapting structures and systems of international cooperation to the challenges of the 21st century.

Accordingly, this year's meeting aims to focus on six areas of inquiry and their global, regional and industry dimensions, namely:

Strengthening economic and social welfare.
Mitigating global risks and addressing systematic failures.
Ensuring sustainability.
Ensuring security.
Creating a values framework.
Building effective institutions.

Zuma is expected to hold, on the margins of the meeting, a series of bilateral meetings with other participating heads of state and government, as well as representatives from private corporations.

Upon conclusion, he is expected to depart for Addis Ababa, where he will lead a delegation to the 14th Ordinary Session of the African Union Summit.

SAinfo reporter