24 May 2006

Wednesday's meeting between South African President Thabo Mbeki, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and a host of ministers from the two countries aims to measure the progress of commitments the G8 made to Africa in 2005.

Briefing the media in Pretoria on Tuesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said it was an important meeting between the two countries.

The meeting will be co-chaired by Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and her newly appointed British counterpart, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett.

'Impetus'
"The meeting will try to ensure that [the two governments] do not continue to make pledges or programmes that are not implemented," Pahad said.

"Mr Blair feels that the meeting will give an impetus on the campaign on Aids on the African continent. He also indicated ... the issue of peace and conflicts in Africa, especially in Darfur, and the need to continue to put pressure to ensure that the signatories stick to what they have done, and those who have not signed do sign up."

Pahad added that the European Union and UN Peace and Security Council had confirmed that the United Nations would take over the African mission in Darfur, but that in the meantime efforts would be taken to strengthen the African mission already there.

'Putting promises into practice'
"The round table that will be held as part of the SA-UK Forum has the theme 'Africa 2005: putting our promises into practice', and will focus on what progress has been made in helping achieve the Millennium Development Goals," Pahad said.

"The fact that they are having the round table on the implementation is an important indication that major governments are beginning to move away from the issue of commitments and now want to know if implementations have been made."

Other issues on the agenda will be the consolidation of political and economic relations between South Africa and Britain, conflict resolution in Africa, the WTO's Doha development round, UN reform and the Middle East situation, including Iran.

Representatives of a number of government departments have accompanied Mbeki to the UK. At least 15 British ministers will attend the forum.

Source: BuaNews

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	Department of Foreign Affairs  Commission for Africa  African Union  Nepad  SA High Commission, UK

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