President Jacob Zuma will address the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week and use the opportunity to call for reform of the organisation, the government said on Friday.
South Africa has also decided to focus on the global economic crisis, the fight against poverty, climate change, nuclear disarmament and the promotion of the African Union during the gathering of world leaders, the Department of International Relations said.
Zuma will address the General Assembly on Wednesday, and will arrive in New York the day before to attend the summit on climate change convened by UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon.
He will be preceded by International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who will hold bilateral meetings with counterparts from several countries.
Zuma said this week that South Africa would argue for urgent reform of the UN, including the Security Council, ”to ensure that it is more representative, transparent and responsive to the needs of developing nations”.
It has long lobbied for a permanent seat for Africa on an expanded Security Council, but ruffled feathers recently when, as a two-year, rotating member of the 15-nation council, it sought to block discussion of human rights abuses in Burma and Zimbabwe.
From New York, Zuma will go to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for the G20 summit taking place next Thursday and Friday.
The president and Nkoana-Mashabane will then fly to Caracas in Venezuela for the Africa-South America Summit that starts next weekend. — Sapa