Dlamini Zuma to attend NAM meeting

by Mishkah Anthony
29 July 2008

Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma left France yesterday for Tehran, Iran where she will lead a senior South African government delegation to the two-day Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement starting today.

She was in France where she was part of President Thabo Mbeki’s high level Ministerial delegation at the inaugural South Africa – European Union Summit in Bordeaux.

Government spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa says the South African delegation will participate in the NAM meeting with a view to consolidating South-South’s co-operation.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad says,“It is our view that now more than ever the Non Align Movement has to now understand the important role that it plays in world politics”

Pahad goes on to say that this will be a very important NAM ministerial meeting; the vast majority of countries in the world representing all countries are members of the Non Aligned Movement and the G77+ China, given the new challenges facing the International arena.

With the recent developments such as rising fuel prices, food crisis and the viewing of how or whether we will reach the millennium development goals this will be a very important meeting.