President Zuma concludes visit to United States
NEW YORK, September 25, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — President Jacob Zuma concludes his visit to the United States today (Friday 25 September 2009), where he was attending the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York and the G20 Summit meeting in Pittsburgh.
President Zuma arrived in Pittsburgh on Thursday evening, where he attended a working dinner hosted by US President Barack Obama on the reform of the international system. This included discussion on the future role of the G20 in dealing with global economic and financial issues.
During the course of Friday, President Zuma is scheduled to participate in a review of progress made since the G20 meeting in London earlier this year that sought to develop a response to the economic crisis and lay a foundation for a sustainable economic recovery.
South Africa has noted that since the London Summit, G20 countries have moved quickly to make greater resources available to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and multilateral development banks for lending. Attention now needs to turn to urgent implementation of all the commitments in meeting the needs of low income countries. These include commitments made at the G8 Gleneagles Summit in 2005 to double aid to Africa by 2010.
The meeting is also expected to discuss the reform of financial regulatory mechanisms to ensure that such a financial crisis will be avoided in the future. While South Africa welcomes proposals for introducing a robust and comprehensive framework for global regulation and oversight, it is calling for capacity support to low-income countries to enable them to comply with new regulations. It is also urging the regulatory reform process to continue even once the global economy recovers.
Discussions will also be held on energy, climate change and trade.
President Zuma’s visit to the US began at the UN General Assembly, where he delivered his first address as President of South Africa. He also held bilateral meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Dutch Prime Minister Peter Balkenende.
President Zuma is due to depart from Pittsburgh for Venezuela on Friday afternoon, where he will lead the South African delegation at the 2nd Africa – South America Summit.
President Zuma will arrive back in South Africa on Monday, 28 September 2009.
SOURCE
Republic of South Africa – The Presidency
