5th IBSA summit, Pretoria and Tshwane Declaration

The President of the Republic of South Africa Jacob Zuma, the Prime Minister of the Republic of India Dr. Manmohan Singh, and the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, Ms. Dilma Rousseff met at the Presidential Guest House, Pretoria, Republic of South Africa, on 18 October 2011 for the 5th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum.

What is IBSA?

IBSA is a trilateral, developmental initiative between India, Brazil and South Africa to promote South-South cooperation and exchange. It was established via the Brasilia Declaration in 2003.

What are Objectives of IBSA?

• To promote South-South dialogue, cooperation and common positions on issues of international importance
• To promote trade and investment opportunities between the three regions of which they are part
• To promote international poverty alleviation and social development
• To promote the trilateral exchange of information, international best practices, technologies and skills, as well as to compliment each others competitive strengths into collective synergies
• To promote cooperation in a broad range of areas, namely agriculture, climate change, culture, defence, education, energy, health, information society, science and technology, social development, trade and investment, tourism and transport.

How many IBSA Summits have been organized so far?

So far 5 IBSA Summits have held as follows:

What was the Agenda of the Recent Summit?

• Discuss the Financial and economic picture of the World
  
• Discuss the growth and reforms in UNSC in both permanent and non-permanent categories
  
• Synchronization between IBSA countries in UNSC, sustainable growth, the coming meetings of the CoP under the UNFCCC, and the CoP to the Kyoto Protocol being hosted by South Africa later this year, the Rio+20 Conference being hosted by Brazil in 2012, will be talked about
  
• Global, regional and joint issues of mutual interest
  
• Bilateral meetings with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and South African President Jacob Zuma
  
• Trilateral meeting of Foreign Ministers and forums on various topics like Commerce and Women and Child Development
  
• Possible steps that need to be taken to address the economic situation. It has become more significant as all the 3 leaders would be attending the G-20 meet in Cannes in November 2011
  
• Issues related to international security like terrorism and maritime safety
  
• A joint declaration an MoU among the Diplomatic Academies of IBSA countries was to be signed at the summit
  

What is Tshwane Declaration?

Outcome of the 5th IBSA Summit was the Tshwane Declaration. By the Tshwane Declaration, India, South Africa and Brazil hinged the Indian climate change policy back to the original peg with equity and the assured future of Kyoto Protocol being brought to centre stage again. The countries demanded an agreement on second phase of Kyoto Protocol, put the principles of equity and differentiated responsibilities on the agenda, linked their actions to financial support from developed countries and reminded that the Bali Action Plan remained the template for UN negotiations. I am not reproducing this 120 point report here. Here are important notes extracted from the text of Tshwane Declaration and inputs from other sources as well.

• Basic pillar of IBSA is the shared vision of the three countries that democracy and development are mutually reinforcing and key to sustainable peace and stability.
• Currently, All IBSA Member States serve as non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and thus, Importance of IBSA Dialogue Forum as an instrument to promote coordination on global issues, pertinently during the historic occasion of 2011was acknowledged.
• The debates over the UN Systems reforms are as old as UN itself. Since the creation of the organization (June 1945), most of delegates and commentators believed that the structure they had given birth to was a merely temporary one as a first step towards the establishment of the new multilateral system. The third paragraph of article 109 is a clear clue of this initial orientation.
• Today Four industrial and economic powers viz. Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan (G4 Nations) aspiring for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council.
• It was emphasized in the Tshwane Declaration that no reform of the United Nations will be complete without a reform of the UN Security Council (UNSC), including an expansion in both the permanent and nonpermanent categories of its membership, with increased participation of developing countries in both.
• The Peace Building Commission (PBC) is one of the new entities created by the reform process initiated during the 60th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. It was established December 2005 by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council acting concurrently. It is an inter-governmental advisory body that will help countries in post-conflict peace building, recovery, reconstruction and development.
• The leaders noted in Tshwane Declaration that when considering the deployment of a mission or in evaluating and renewing the mandate of current missions, the UN Security Council should work in close cooperation with the Peacebuilding Commission, with a view to developing a stronger synergy between the two organs.
• As members of the G20, IBSA Countries reaffirmed their support for the Group as the premier forum for international economic cooperation
• Importance of IBSA Facility for the Alleviation of Hunger and Poverty in the implementation of South-South cooperation projects was highlighted. The Leaders noted that 2015 remains a fundamental target date, by which MDGs must be met. The leaders reaffirmed that with just four years to go for the target year, global efforts for attaining the MDGs by 2015 must see accelerated action.
• The leaders called upon developed countries to urgently meet their ODA (Official development assistance) commitments and to take steps to strengthen global partnership as envisaged in MDG 8 (Develop a global partnership for development) including technology transfer.
• The Leaders reaffirmed their efforts to strengthening the global partnership for development, but reiterate the necessity of the expeditious delivery of commitments already made by developed countries in the context of the Monterrey Consensus and the Doha Declaration on Financing for Development.

• Brazil’s is hosting of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro. This summit will be called Rio+20 Summit. The objective of this summit is to secure renewed political commitment to sustainable development; to assess progress towards internationally agreed commitments on sustainable development and to address new and emerging challenges. Main themes for the Summit are Green Economy in the context of Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development and the Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development in implementing the Sustainable Development agenda.
• South Africa is the host of the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 7th Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties (CMP7) to the Kyoto Protocol, which will be taking place in Durban from 28 November to 9 December 2011.
• All IBSA countries are members of the Group of Like-Minded Mega-diverse Countries. They appreciated that India is to host in October 2012, the eleventh Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP11 of CBD) and the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties (COP/MOP 6) to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.
• South-South Cooperation being implemented jointly through the IBSA Trust Fund. IBSA Trust Fund is also known as “India, Brazil and South Africa Facility for Poverty and Hunger Alleviation”
• The leaders welcomed the Political declaration signed by Head of States and Government on World Conference Against Racism, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) + 10, held in New York, on 22 September 2011
• IBSA leaders welcomed the UNGA resolution A/RES/65/230 on the Twelfth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice which endorsed the Salvador Declaration on Comprehensive Strategies for Global Challenges: Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Systems and Their Development in a Changing World.
• Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to eliminate the worst forms of child labour and took note of the ILO Road Map for Achieving the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour by 2016 and welcomed the convening of the Third Global Conference Against Child Labour to take place in Brazil in 2013.
• Brazil and South Africa welcomed India’s decision conveyed at the Working Group on Science and Technology meeting that India will host the IBSA Satellite Technical Meeting In Bengaluru to discuss (i) modalities of cooperation in space weather, earth observation and micro satellite; and (ii) translating the IBSA Satellite concept into action
• 8th Meeting of the Trilateral Commission to be hosted by South Africa, in the first half of 2012. India has offered to host the 6th IBSA Summit in 2013 on a date to be set through the diplomatic channels.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2011

Category: Summits and Conferences