Africa-Press – South-Africa. International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor says strong tendencies to pursue national interests and the fragmentation of global decision-making bodies are emerging.
According to Pandor, her department would have to be strategic on an international level.
This was contained in Pandor’s foreword to Dirco’s annual report for the 2022/23 financial year, which was presented in Parliament on Wednesday.
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Pandor said:
She added that several global challenges would impact on the work of her department.
“As we start the new financial year, our work will be impacted by various challenges that exist in the international environment, such as the long-term impact of Covid-19 on the welfare and financial well-being of the world, an increasing trend towards unilateralism, protectionism, nationalism, populism, and an inward-looking focus on countries’ domestic priorities.
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“Strong tendencies to pursue national interests and the fragmentation of global decision-making are emerging,” she said.
Pandor said South Africa’s multilateral engagements were premised on the need to advance its national interest and safeguard its national positions.
“South Africa pursues mutually beneficial cooperation among countries and groupings of the south to develop common positions on political, economic, social and human rights issues as an effective response in addressing the historic marginalisation of these countries,” she said.
“Groupings of the South share the need to restructure the global political, economic and financial architecture to be more balanced, representative, inclusive and equitable, as well as to ensure that the international system rests on the important pillars of multilateralism and international law.”
Pandor said the strained economic climate had negatively impacted on Dirco’s operations.
“Due to the shortfall on the compensation of employees (CoE) budget, vacancies cannot be filled, which may impact negatively on service delivery and the achievement of the department’s mandate. In order to mitigate the associated risks [of] the shortfall of the CoE, the department will focus on upskilling and reskilling its human resources.
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“In addition, responding to the challenges posed by the constrained fiscal environment, the department has been engaging in the process of reviewing its global footprint and seeking accreditation on a non-residential basis in a bid to contain costs.”
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