Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane
Cape Town, South Africa – President of the 67th session of the UN General Assembly Vuk Jeremi is in South Africa, where he and International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane were Monday holding talks on several important issues.
Among such issues is the strengthening of the multilateral system, in particular the UN, which is one of the key priorities of South Africa’s foreign policy.
Department spokesman Clayson Monyela said the talks would also address the UN General Assembly’s focus on Africa, the Millennium Development Goals and current deliberations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
The General Assembly is one of the UN’s six principal organs, and its chief deliberative, policy-making and representative organ.
It comprises all 193 UN member states and serves as a forum for intergovernmental discussion and negotiation on all of the international issues covered by the Charter.
South Africa was one of the original 51 founding members of the UN from its inception on 24 Oct. 1945.
However, the UN General Assembly in 1974 suspended South Africa from participating in its work, due to international opposition to its policy of apartheid.
South Africa was re-admitted to the UN in 1994 following its transition into a democracy, and has since pursued a foreign policy based on the centrality of the UN in the multilateral system.
Source: Pana
