Mbeki's travels 'help Africa'

2005-05-06 22:34

Pretoria - Deputy foreign affairs minister Aziz Pahad has defended criticism of President Thabo Mbeki's numerous foreign trips, saying on Friday they were meant to build ties for Africa's economic and social recovery.

Speaking after Mbeki's audience with Pope Benedict XVI, Pahad said all the visits consolidated the country's political and economic initiatives.

"We are now represented in almost every major economic region in the world."

Pahad said that not only did this open doors for the country, but for the continent as a whole.

On numerous occasions, South Africa had been accused of punching above its weight, but Pahad said it had gained a reputation as a peacemaker and negotiator.

"South Africa has established itself as a centre for social change in the world," he said noting that an important aspect of foreign policy was 'economic diplomacy'.

Finding way out of quagmire

In recent years, much had been done by developing countries to align themselves into powerful trade blocks to take on the often-dictatorial stance of Western economic giants.

Last month, leaders from Asia and Africa met in Indonesia to discuss ways of building links that would help their countries out of the economic quagmire in which they found themselves.

He said the Southern African Common Customs Union (SACU) was currently negotiating free trade agreements with China, India, United States of America and Latin America.

He said these, if successful, would contribute enormously to the developing world's bargaining power.

He said South Africa's good relationship with China had raised the hackles of many businessmen and labour unions alike, particularly in the textile and clothing industry, where drastic labour cuts had taken place as the country tried to compete with Chinese imports.

Pahad said that nobody could argue that building ties with the fastest-growing economy on the planet was a wise move.

Due to address CEO summit

"We can't go back to the bad old days of protectionism," he said, adding that maybe South Africa's textile industry had to look at 'modernising their equipment' in order to compete effectively.

During his visit to Italy, Mbeki was also scheduled to hold discussions with his Italian counterpart President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Rome on Friday.

On Saturday, Mbeki would, at the invitation of United States bank Morgan Stanley, address the European, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) CEO summit in Venice.

The summit, scheduled from Thursday to Saturday, was the largest gathering of chief executive officers (CEOs) and chairpersons in Europe, and would represent many of the leading companies from their respective regions.

- SAPA