South African President Thabo Mbeki will host his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Saturday. The Brazilian president will be on a working visit to Pretoria for bilateral political and economic discussions, the government news agency BuaNews reported on Thursday.
The agency reported South African deputy foreign minister Aziz Pahad as saying the working visit was a strategic one in that it gave South Africa an entry point into Latin America.
“Our relations with Brazil are also strategic, in that Brazil has the largest population of people of African origin outside Africa,” said Pahad.
He added that the two presidents would discuss support for the African Renaissance, either through skills or resource contributions to the continent.
“Both countries are also committed to respecting the rule of law strengthening the United Nations, including the UN Security Council and prioritising the exercise of diplomacy as a means to maintain international peace and security in accordance with the Charter of the UN and with the legal instruments to which Brazil and SA are parties,” he explained.
South Africa was one of the countries that had been nominated by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on to the Eminent Persons Committee to investigate ways to transform the security council “for the better”.
Pahad said at the moment most countries were wishing for a situation where one country from every continent was represented in the council.
However, he said both Nigeria and Egypt had already announced their candidature for an African seat in the envisioned council.
“In regard to the African seat to security council, we will be guided by the decision of the African Union,” said Pahad.
Brazil is seen as a strong candidate for the Latin American seat, he added.
Pahad said more than a hundred Brazilian business people would accompany their president to explore business opportunities in South Africa.
Da Silva won Brazil’s October 2002 presidential poll, leading a coalition of parties behind the Partidos Trabalhardores or Labour Party. The former trade unionist was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1986 and made three previous unsuccessful bids for the presidency. – I-Net Bridge