WEDNESDAY, 24 OCTOBER 2001: Today Minister Valli Moosa addressed a parliamentary conference organised by Globe Southern Africa, held in the Old Assembly chamber of Parliament. The Minister unveiled South Africa’s position on the World Summit and outlined in a detailed presentation to the conference the outputs that South Africa expects from the summit. Among the key issues he highlighted are:

• Global partnerships to address ineqaulity and poverty.
• The integration of trade, investment and finance issues with the sustainable development agenda.

Addressing the issue of partnerships, Moosa emphasised that sustainable development cannot be implemented by government alone. He argued that the role of business to proactively invest in sustainable development programmes is critical to ensure the successful implementation of the Johannesburg programme of action. Equally, Moosa contends that the role of the NGO sector is to bring into the mainstream often marginalised groups of youth and women who will give impetus to our strategies for sustainable development.

Throughout his presentation Moosa emphasised that the World Summit is not just about the environment. The three pillars of sustainable development -- the economic, the social and the environmental -- form a key agenda to ensure that a solid programme of action with meaningful outcomes arise from the Johannesburg Summit.

South Africa’s message to the world as we approach the World Summit is that poverty and inequality are the greatest threats to sustainable development, and that in order to tackle them seriously we will have to review terms of trade, investment and debt relief.

Moosa, who has just returned from the African preparatory conference that took place in Nairobi last week, expressed confidence that Africa has crafted a very clear agenda that will ensure that the summit leaves for the peoples of this planet a legacy of prosperity.