Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit: briefing
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Meeting report
FOREIGN AFFAIRS PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
13 October 1999
COMMONWEALTH HEADS OF GOVERNMENT SUMMIT: BRIEFING
Documents handed out:
Information package on Summit and the Commonwealth from the Commonwealth Online Website: http://www.tcol.co.uk
SUMMARY
There was a briefing on the events that would be taking place at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit to be held 12 - 15 November in Durban. Also discussed was the signing of te recent trade agreement with the EU (European Union) focusing on the causes for the delayed signing. Several parliamentarians voiced concern over lack of oversight and involvement with the department on a continuing basis.
MINUTES
Trade agreement between South Africa and the European Union
Deputy Director General of Multi-Lateral Affairs, Mr Abdul Minty, met with the committee to give background information about the Heads of Government Summit to be held 12 - 15 November in Durban and also highlight the recently signed trade agreement between South Africa and the European Union (EU).
Mr Minty said that there were many last minute hitches to the trade agreement before its signing on 11 October 1999. He stated that the wine and spirits agreement was supposed to be finished by the end of September but that it has been postponed due to disagreements and will appear as a side letter insert by the end of October. Another contentious issue centered around the EU's commercial policy of imposing descriptions on market use. South Africa saw this as having to support the EU position when it is more interested in taking a multi-lateral stance. As Mr Minty saw it, last minute agreements by EU showed it understood South Africa would not compromise on principle.
Military coup in Pakistan
He went on to comment on the situation in Pakistan and read a press release from the Minister of Foreign Affairs criticizing the military coup.
Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit
Mr Minty said the summit encompasses countries from all continents and has been influential in world politics through documents such as the Harare and Milbrook Declarations. Part of its success lies in the informal meetings, which are held on Saturday and Sunday of the summit. During that time, heads of state and their spouses travel to another venue where they have informal exchanges. This summit will be electing a new secretary general and the two candidates are the Foreign Minister of New Zealand and the former Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh. He referred the committee to the Commonwealth Online website for information about the Commonwealth and the upcoming conference at http://www.tcol.co.uk
Mr Eglin (DP) expressed is concern that Parliament is missing hands-on interaction in foreign affairs. He conceded that moving from bilateral agreements to multilateral agreements had caused monitoring to become more difficult. He also said that the President's move to Pretoria has had a large impact on the committee. He claimed that fewer officials come to Parliament and that although discussions with the OAU, United Nations, SACD occur, parliamentarians only receive papers telling them of the events. He advocated a more hands-on relationship with the department and said that the members are at a disadvantage in their current state.
There are only three people per country allowed in the conference room at a time, usually the President, the Foreign Minister and the most senior civil servant. Unlike other summits the hosting country does not have an extra seat and President Mbeki will serve as both chair of the summit and head of the South African delegation. For the first time there will be a theme to the summit which is: People Centered Development, The Challenge of Globalization.
There will be many additional scheduled meetings during the Friday and Monday of the summit. Some of these are: the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM), Committee of the Whole (COW) meetings which are attended by four representatives from each country, business meetings and NGO meetings. The Queen of England will also be at the summit although she will not be attending meetings. There are also plans to do something for Remembrance Sunday but the department does not know what as of yet.
Discussion
Professor Mabeta (UDM) first thanked the department for its hard work. He then asked if there were ever strained relations between the commonwealth and its members and if it could censure a member country's actions. Specifically he wanted to know how it dealt with African issues such as military regimes and coups.
Mr Minty said that all members of the commonwealth are affected by the actions of surrounding countries because of the global economy. He also said that some members of the commonwealth have had to leave because of violations violations of the Harare and Milbrook declarations. Accordingly, the conference will not include dictators or coup representatives. He said that he hoped the commonwealth would put pressure on Pakistan to move back to a civilian rule.
Mr Minty replied that the Foreign Affairs department has an open door policy and it is at the committee's disposal, If they want regular meetings on the breadth of the work done, it can be arranged. He also indicated that they could use video-conferencing if fitting in visits in the tight schedule proved too difficult.
Ms Hajaij (ANC) told Mr Minty that the committee used to receive a more multi-lateral report on an ongoing basis and that she would like to start receiving this again.
Professor Mabeta (UDM) thanked Mr Minty for his work over the years in the freedom struggle and with the new government. He said that the perception is that foreign policy is isolated. This undermines the oversight capacity of Parliament and causes a lack of political perspective. Although nothing has gone wrong yet, if something did, parliamentarians would have a hard time explaining their level of understanding of foreign policy, how things were approved, and the extent of their involvement. He brought up the point that right now there is a conflict between countries with nuclear capacity.
After Prof Mabeta expressed his concerns, Chairman Ebrahim told the committee that he is organising that the Minister of Foreign Affairs give a workshop to the committee at the beginning of next year. The meeting was concluded.
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