British Prime Minister Tony Blair was “very welcome” at this weekend’s progressive governance summit, South Africa’s Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad said on Wednesday.
“It is very important for Mr Blair to be here as leader of the British Labour Party … [although] we may disagree with him on some of his policies,” said Pahad, in reply to the question why Blair had been invited in spite of his policies on Iraq — which differed from that of South Africa.
The summit — to be attended by eight world leaders including President Thabo Mbeki, the South Africa host — is being held at a Hammanskraal game lodge
in Gauteng.
The summit of progressive — or broadly left, social democratic heads of state and government — is scheduled to be attended by Blair as well as the leaders of New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Sweden, Ethiopia, and Brazil.
Asked if Hamas — which had recently been elected as the new government of
Palestine — would be invited to be part of the group, President Mbeki’s legal adviser advocate Mojunki Gumbi noted that Brazil, Chile and Argentina were members of the group but other Latin American countries like Cuba or Venezuela
were not..
“It is something they can consider and see whether the values bring them together … it is something they can take a decision on among themselves.”
Gumbi noted that the United States, Germany and Canada were no longer represented by heads of state who adhered to the values of the group. Although president Bill Clinton had been a founding member, current US President George Bush was not a member. Clinton would be addressing the leaders over the weekend via satellite — providing his views on equitable growth policies.
The leaders will discuss political strategy including new challenges from the new right and traditional left. They will also discuss development and Africa — what progressives should do — as well as policy challenges of the 21st century.
Asked if there was a bit of a “jump to the right” in global governance terms, Gumbi said there was a shift to the left in South America and social democratic governments were also on the ascendancy in certain northern countries. – I-Net Bridge