Mbeki to make DRC trip
2004-06-30 19:53
Pretoria - President Thabo Mbeki will depart for the Democratic Republic of Congo shortly in an effort to help diffuse tensions in the region.
Mbeki was talking to the new Zambian High Commissioner to South Africa, Sainot Mbula, in Pretoria on Wednesday when he mentioned that there were challenges in the DRC that needed his attention.
Spokesperson Dumisani Nkwamba said Mbeki was responding to Zambian fears that the greatest threat to peace within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was the "grave situation within the DRC".
He said Mbeki informed Mbula he would be going to the DRC to help implement structures of governance that should move the peace process forward.
Mbeki also received letters of credence from the new envoys of the Netherlands, Chile, Madagascar and Austria at the Presidential Guesthouse in Pretoria.
Receiving the High Commissioner of the Netherlands, Franciscus Engering, Mbeki said there was a need to discuss the implications of the expansion of the European Union on developing countries.
Being the fourth largest foreign investor in South Africa, the Netherlands would strive to support black economic empowerment. It would concentrate its efforts on developing areas of rural and basic education, and help mitigate the socio-economic consequences of the HIV/Aids pandemic, Engering said.
Chile's ambassador Claudio Herrera said his country wished to increase its co-operation with South Africa in multiple fields including the reform of the United Nations and South-South development.
Austrian ambassador Helmut Freudenshuss said he would make it his personal goal to strengthen bilateral investments especially with regards to trade and tourism.
He said he believed that his time in Lebanon before his posting to South Africa had prepared him for his posting here.
"Lebanon is a country overcoming years of conflict, mutual distrust, high unemployment and enormous economic and social disparities," he said.
Madagascar's envoy, Yvan Randriasandratriniony, when handing over his credentials thanked Mbeki for his support of Madagascar joining the SADC.
He also advertised that the Malagasy had "highly skilled labour at relatively low costs when compared to South Africa," and believed for this reason the two countries could complement each other economically.
- SAPA