Twelve South African cabinet ministers are to attend a conference with British and European partners in London this weekend to review the country’s first decade of democracy and plan for the next ten years.
Dubbed the London Solidarity Conference, the gathering will also be attended by an array of senior corporate, parastatal and government officials.
The conference was organised by the SA High Commission in London to ”reconnect” with former members of British and European anti-apartheid movements, the Foreign Affairs Department said in a statement on Thursday.
It was also aimed at forging closer links with new partners in the country’s reconstruction and development efforts.
”The conference will examine ways and means to mark the tenth anniversary of democracy in South Africa in 2004, while looking at international solidarity, new partnerships and collaborations between South Africans, British and Europeans to push back the frontiers of poverty and under-development,” the department said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma would lead the South African delegation and open the conference. Other cabinet ministers to attend the conference are Kader Asmal, Alec Erwin, Thoko Didiza, Sydney Mufamadi, Essop Pahad, Valli Moosa, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, Penuell Maduna, Ronnie Kasrils and Ben Ngubane.
Other South African delegates will include SA Tourism head Cheryl Carolus, Mike Spicer of Anglo-American and several government directors-general and deputies directors-general.
President Thabo Mbeki is to send a video message of support. The gathering will take place from Friday to Sunday at the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre in London.
Speakers at the conference will include former British Anti-Apartheid Movement executive secretary Mike Terry, and Hillary Benn — Secretary of State for International Development.
The department said Dlamini-Zuma would hold bilateral talks with her British counterpart Jack Straw in London on Thursday. – Sapa