Pretoria - Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr Naledi Pandor, is heading to Bali, Indonesia, to attend a two-day G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting scheduled to take place on Thursday and Friday.
The gathering, which will be held under the theme “Recover Together, Recover Stronger”, the G20 Foreign Minister’s Meeting, will discuss current geopolitical tensions across the world, their humanitarian as well as socio-economic impacts and the role and contribution of the G20 in strengthening multilateralism.
“On the margins of the G20 meeting, Minister Pandor will have bilateral discussions with some of her counterparts to discuss issues of multilateral cooperation and mutual interests,” said International Relations and Cooperation spokesperson Clayson Monyela.
Pandor’s visit to Bali follows her “successful” visit to Singapore on Tuesday and Wednesday, at the invitation of Vivian Balakrishnan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Singapore.
“While in Singapore, Minister Pandor also visited various government and business entities such as the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Singapore Institute of Technical Education (ITE) to strengthen cooperation and explore further development exchanges between South Africa and Singapore,” said Monyela.
Meanwhile, top United States and Chinese diplomats are meeting on sidelines of the G20 meeting. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi have scheduled an in-person discussion in Bali.
A US official was quoted as saying Blinken will meet with Yi in Indonesia this week to explore ways to “responsibly” manage the two countries’ rivalry and seek areas of cooperation amid soaring tensions on a number of fronts.
IOL